Transformers: My secret English
by Mrs.Knockout
Summary: I'd like to tell you about someone.About the ways she looks at me with this loving and always a bit sad expression in her eyes.About the way she caresses my cheek with her tiny little fingers.About the way we love each other.But I can't. She's my secret.
1. a knife

_**Hello guys.**_

_**As I already said, I translated one of my stories into english. I really hope that you like this. It is just the beginning so it won't stay that boring but I have to apologize that it may take a while until I translated my chapters. I have to thank GalaxyWarrioress1234 for making this readable c:**_

_**Have fun!**_

_**A Knife**_

"Prime! A new Decepticon signal has been detected recently. You must go and investigate immediately!" Galloway's voice echoed through the hall and I wondered how something that small could be that loud.

I let out a sigh and ordered my fellow Autobots to roll out.

Despite eons of practice, I still haven't managed to hide my fatigue.

Ironhide, Bumblebee and Sideswipe already drove past me to get the coordinates from the soldiers, when someone put his hand on my shoulder. I jumped slightly and turned to face my CMO.

"Is everything alright, Optimus?" Ratchet asked concerned.

I gave him a small smile.

What would I do without my Medical officer?

Unquestioning, he was the first one I would transfer the commando to, if it would ever be necessary... but it wouldn't.

There was no such thing like "vacation" for us.

But after all these years, even I was fed up of the war against the Decepticons. If I only could, only once, get out of my role as leader...

If. I could not afford this word. I was not allowed to live in the impossibility. Wasn't allowed to escape from the everyday life.

"Prime! What are you waiting for, let's move!"

I suppressed the urge to clench my fist as I transformed.

Ratchet just shook his head sadly and followed me onto the street.

As Ironhide broke the Silence by telling me the coordinates over our Com-link connection, the group gradually relaxed again.

They started the topic of conversation, in which all, Autobots and soldiers, agreed on: Galloway.

"That guy really is a jerk!"

"Must think he can do whatever he wants to!"

"'Prime! Damn Prime, what are you waiting for?'"

I smiled to myself at the sight, how the Autobots cursed at him and the humans mimicked him.

The tone which Epps used was clearly too high for a male, and that had made me question him.

'Man and machine, both cursing at Galloway!' Chromia shouted laughing through the Com-link connection.

Once again, Ratchet was the only one, except me, who kept quiet.

Most likely, he would have been able to contribute the most, because he always was the one who picks it with him, because of every possible thing.

The others only gave him furious looks.

Well, everyone but Ironhide, who always aimed his guns at Galloway as they glowed a radiant blue. You would think that by now it would have lost its effect, but Galloway still has got considerable respect for Ironhide.

Or at least for Ironhide's weapons anyways.

After several hours of driving, we finally arrived at our destination.

It was a small, bare area. There wasn't enough vegetation to call it a forest, though there was just about enough so you couldn't call it a real desert.

There were just a few houses in my visibility, which, judging by what I could see, were already evacuated.

Lennox confirmed my thoughts when he turned to us.

"Two of the houses are empty and the inhabitants of the remaining ones have already been evacuated by the government hours ago. We shouldn't get problems with civilians."

Epps jumped off of Ironhide and looked around.

"Do you really think a 20 feet high 'Con can be found in a desert? So, where is this thing? Can it make itself invisible?"

Elita-1 transformed and turned around as well.

"I don't know one who can do that. Do you, Chromia?"

"Nope, but he probably cut off when he realized that we're coming." she replied shrugging.

"No. He's here. I can smell him!" Ironhide growled, his nose twitching.

Sideswipe took a step back, optics wide.

"Dude, you sound like a psycho. Stop saying that!" He complained. Ironhide turned to him and narrowed his optics

"But it's true. You should also be able to smell him!" The black mech hissed back. Like always when he's irritated, Ironhide transformed his arms into cannons and aimed them straight at Sideswipe.

"Of course I can! I just don't indicate like you!" Sideswipe retorted. With a rotate, Ironhide charged his weapons and Sideswipe cowered back.

"You can do that, when we're back! Now we have other thing to do!" Ratchets harsh tone seemed to cut the dry air and immediately silenced everyone.

Ironhide lowered his cannons, but refused to retract them.

Every time Ratchet got irritated, everything fell silent. He got at least as much respect as I did.

And yet, he was never interested in becoming a Prime. Even if it had been possible, he would have preferred his current position. I had never seen anyone, who was that capable in his appeal. Neither on Earth, nor Cybertron.

"Come on now. We need to find him!" My voice echoed through the ranks of soldiers and Autobots.

Ratchet tried to detect his signal, but it was to strong disguised than that he could get a precise position.

The Arcee-sisters just drove around in the area, in hope to lure the Decepticon out of his hiding place.

After a while, Skids and Mudflap drove to the houses, to see whether the Decepticon hid himself there.

Skids, deciding that it was a seemingly good idea, hid himself in one of the houses, also placing a bet against his brother.

Something alarmed me at that sight, both driving towards the first house, but I couldn't tell what.

Mudflap transformed and first stared into the opened garage, than through the windows.

"No Deceptipunk in here!" he announced, ultimately beating his brother, who already was on the way to the second house.

I just noticed that in front of the second houses' garage stood a black Audi R8.

If truly every human would have been evacuated, than they would have certainly taken their cars with them.

"Skids! Mudflap!" I bellowed and they even heard it across the far distance. They transformed and stood behind each other approximately 30 feet away from the third house. But it was too late.

The car transformed, and to my surprise, Sideways was now standing in front of the startled twins.

"Yo, Mudflap. I won." Skids whispered to his brother, while they both slowly took a step back.

Sideswipe seemed to transform at the same time as I did, but before we arrived at the scene, Sideways just had kicked the forestation wildly around Skids 60 feet into the scrub.

Thereupon, Mudflap jumped him on the back und tried to shoot his head off. Of cause that didn't work. Sideways just transformed and left the twin back on the street.

Sideswipe directly went on to the Decepticon.

Shortly before the impact, both transformed and there was a deafening bang from metal on metal. Instead of taking his blades out, he indiscriminately beat him.

After a short time, Sideways grabbed him by his shoulders, turned himself into a kneeling position and threw Sideswipe on the floor.

Suddenly, everyone started shooting at Sideways.

Ironhide, Ratchet, Arcee and me, whilst Chromia and Elita 1 took care of Skids, Mudflap and Sideswipe.

Sideways returned the fire and mostly aimed for Arcee, who drove circles around him while shooting, getting closer and closer with each shot.

Suddenly, something flew in Sideways direction - a metal shard? - And he cried out furiously, his voice filled with pain.

I took my chance and offlined him with one of my blades, the 'con falling on his side, optics dimming, lifelessly.

While the others congratulated each other and Ratchet looked after Sideswipe and the twins, I kneeled down to look at him more accurately.

Indeed, there was a kind of a shard in his optic.

No. A knife! Perhaps from one of the soldiers... although, no soldier stood in the direction where the knife had come from. Because it had come... from the house.

I swung around and just saw the tip of blonde hair, belonging to a human girl, scurry around the garage.

None of the others paid attention to me, so I curiously walked over to the house and around the garage, but the human girl was not in my sight.

Even when I inspected the houses windows, no human came to the window.

"Optimus, what are you doing over there?" Arcee asked confusedly. I turned around while shaking my head thoughtfully.

"Nothing. I only thought I saw somebody."

Arcee just shrugged and drove ahead back to the others. I followed her reluctantly.

For some reason, I really wanted to know who this human girl was.

When I also had arrived at the others, Arcee has already had informed them from my observation.

"It is rather unlikely, that anyone roams this area. Especially now." Lennox said. Epps nodded absentmindedly.

"But if there was, what should this "anyone" want?"

I forced a slight smile on my face.

"That doesn't matter now. There are more important things we have to take care of." I interrupted them.

Ironhide growled annoyed. "Yeah, like this Galloway guy."

And before I knew it, the gossiping and cursing started again.

Ratchet rolled his optics and transformed with the others.

They all waited for me, but I took a last look at the house.

Hang on; I swear that there's somebody standing behind the window...

"Optimus?"

Once again I let out a sigh, transformed and drove after the others back to Headquarters.

Whilst driving back the only thing on my processor was who that figure standing in front of the window was.

_**Thanks for reading and please review c:**_


	2. blonde hair

**_Hey guys. Here's another chapter and I have to thank _**GalaxyWarrioress1234.**__**

_**I really recommend her! **_

_**Have fun!**_

Blonde hair

No, No, No! That's not her either!

For hours I had sat in front of the screen in our base and scanned photos of each American blonde. By now, I had reached the 13,784th.

Just a few of them have had the same dark blonde hair with light strands. Only a few.

And however, the ones who had the same colour hair hadn't had the same curls, or even the same length hair.

I had only seen the girl from behind. Rather only her hair, which just complicated the whole thing even more. I groaned in frustration.

"Give it up, Optimus. You won't find her.", Ironhide pulled me out of my thoughts.

I just wanted to protest, but then he said: "What if she doesn't even come from America? What if she's just a tourist, or has come over to visit her family?"

Yes. What if...

Then I won't find her anymore. Then I should rather stop searching now. It'd be wasted time.

But... what if not?

I looked at him for a few seconds, and noticed a small trace of sorrow on his face, but turned back around, looked at the screen again and continued searching.

More hours passed and I became more restless.

What if I have already overlooked her?

No. Not her.

"Optimus?"

Bumblebee's voice sounded a bit uncertain. He had it a little more under control since Ratchets last checkup.

"What?" My voice sounded distant, tired and irritated.

"What is so important about this human?"

When I turned around, I saw real sorrow in Bumblebee and sighed.

He was right.

What is so important about this human?

'I don't know Bumblebee. But something tells me that I have to find her!' was what I should have answered.

Instead I just mumbled "Probably nothing."

I closed the page with the pictures on and gave Bumblebee a slight smile.

He mirrored it, but I could still see the sorrow in his optics.

Slowly and awkwardly I stood up and left the room.

As I walked through the headquarters, I felt their looks staring through my back.

Ratchet? The soldiers? I don't mind. I just ignored them all.

I transformed and spent the next couple of hours in the corner of the big room, as I always did when I was angry, frustrated or just needed some time to think.

"Ummm...Prime? Did we do something wrong?", Chromia asked guiltily.

Wow. Chromia has a guilty conscious? What happened? I asked myself sarcastically.

I didn't answer her, which made her even more uncertain.

Of course! That's how I punish them. Do I really look that angry?

"Hmmm... are you annoyed or mad?" She pondered.

Both.

"Shall I go?"

Yes.

"Ever thought of answering me? I can't read your mind." Chromia then said, looking slightly agitated with my silent treatment towards them.

Just go.

"Chromia, I don't think Optimus is in the right mood for that..." Ratchet started carefully.

Thank you!

Chromia looked at me for one moment, then shrugged her shoulders and drove off to Ironhide.

Ratchet grinned to himself. He knew me way to well.

He probably played with the thought of teasing me about the human girl, but he didn't.

That was Sideswipes job. Speaking of the devil...

"Hey, Prime. Wazzup?"

I let out a faint growl and fired up my engine.

I then sped past the silver mech and out of our headquarters.

After some time, I arrived at an uninhabited area.

Streets everywhere, all which seemed to be endless, without even one single trace of any human for miles around.

Revving my engine to maximum speed once again, felt so good. Just to drive and forget everything around you.

Of course I couldn't stay away for long, but in this moment, I just didn't want to think about Galloway.

Neither about headquarters or the human soldiers.

Not about any human.

Not about Ironhide, Chromia, Ellita1, Arcee, Sideswipe or the others.

The first ones just remembered me of being trapped on this planet. The other ones remembered me of never being able to return to home.

After a while, I was in a City again. I didn't know where I was driving to, but I was getting drawn somewhere.

It took some minutes until I realized that I was on the way to Sam and Carly's house.

I had already parked in front of Bumblebee's garage before I had the chance to leave.

What am I doing here?

I shut down my engine and listened.

"No. Yes, mom. Of course I did... what? What are you talking about? I... ahhhh! I have to stop!"

Internally, I had to grin.

Sam's mother has always been a bit funny. Sam was, when he talked to her, at least as funny.

"And? What was now?" Carly's high voice sounded amused.

I heard Sam sigh.

"The usual stuff. We've been here and there. We've seen this and that. Do you already have a new job? You know…." He continued imitating his parents. Carly laughed happily.

I drove back a little so that I could see through one of the windows.

She wrapped her arms around his neck playfully and kissed him, grinning.

They then danced for a while, to music that didn't exist, and just looked each other in the eyes.

Slowly I drove back, so that they didn't see me and took course for headquarters. Sam was a good friend of mine and I really felt happy for him.

In the time after Mikaela had left him, not just Sam, but also Bumblebee had been depressed.

They both seemed to mirror each other, as if one would be the shadow of the other one and vice versa.

'Optimus, where are you? Galloway...' Ratchet sounded annoyed. That was not a good sign.

I sighed. Of course. It had to be Galloway.

'I'm on my way, Ratchet.' I assured my CMO.

'How long do you need?'

'Twenty seconds.'

He waited quietly, while the guards opened the gate for me and I entered.

Do not show any feelings Prime. Control yourself! I screamed in my mind.

Without a word, I stopped just a few centimetres away from Galloway and began to transform.

He took a few steps back and looked up to me.

This time, I hadn't got the decency to kneel down.

Quite the opposite of what I usually did when in presence of important humans.

I lifted my chin and stared down at him, as if he isn't even worthy to stand at my feet.

Galloway raised an eyebrow. Then he started to talk to me emotionlessly, careful not to make eye contact.

My expression was distant for the whole time, while I listened to his accusations and threats about devastating a few houses.

Epps stood behind Galloway and opened, with an imaginary Canon, fire on him. A wide majority of other soldiers in the room snickered.

I just gave him a warning glance and imperceptibly shook my head.

Lennox stood with his arms crossed next to Galloway and tossed a few arguments in here and there.

Actually Galloway was always the one, even though we weren't responsible for the destruction, that could skilfully formulate it in a different way, so that it always sounded like we were the bay guys.

At some point, Galloway was done with his ailments and threats and announced, -as always- that this would be continued in the near future!

Primus, how this guy irritates me! But I was obviously not the only one who felt this way.

Epps and Lennox hated him intensely, and everyone else agreed with them.

Once the group had dissolved and walked away, Bumblebee had driven Sam with Sideswipe, Skids and Mudflap into the City; so I went to the big screen again, entered the coordinates of the last mission and looked at the environment.

Within a radius of several kilometres, there was neither a town, nor another house.

How did she get there? Was it coincidence, or did she know about the Decepticon? I'm certain that none of the houses had a car in front!

Or did they?

**_Hope you liked it and please review c :_**


	3. A surprising reunion

_**Finally another chapter!**_

_**Hope you guys like it. Thanks to GalaxyWarriroress1234 (She's really fast!).**_

_**A surprising reunion**_

Now, already 3 earth months had passed and I still had not found a single sign of life from the girl. Either that or enough evidence that proved her existence anyway.

I stood in the middle of our headquarters and watched Sam and Bumblebee talking in their strange, but special, way.

Bumblebee talked through the radio. When he was with us, he always tries to talk in coherent sentences.

When with Sam, however, he only uses keywords. What everybot else took at least an Earth minute per word, Sam understood it immediately.

It seemed as if they both had created a new language.

Of course I could understand them, like everyone else, but it took everyone else a few clicks until they understood the real meaning of Bumblebee's words so that Sam's answers made sense.

I let my look digress to Arcee, Chromia and Elita 1 who -as always- were with Ironhide and talking.

And on to Ratchet, who -as always- stood in front of the big screen to study something.

And on to Sideswipe, who -as always- tried to ignore the twins as well as he could, though they apparently made it their task to follow him for the rest of the day.

A comforting feeling ran through me.

_We are here, have a home, friends and a destiny._

_How long has that been denied to us?_

_How long were we forced to travel from planet to planet, star to star, solar system to solar system, until we found this planet?_

_Way too long._

And again I was brought to the thought which I had prohibited myself to think. The question I had prohibited myself to ask.

_Why? Where is the sense? Cybertron is past!_

Again, I felt the endless mourning consume my spark as I closed my eyes.

'Pull yourself together Optimus!' I scolded myself.

_Yes. Pull yourself together. Close yourself. Turn your back on the past, Orion._

I tore my optics open and stared for a moment in shock at the wall in front of me.

Eons had passed since I had called myself Orion for the last time. Granted, also eons had passed, since I felt so empty and full of mourning the last time.

It had been the day when Cybertron's destruction was fully visible, when I discarded the Name Orion Pax. Discarded my old self and swore to never let anything like that happen again.

I transformed and drove, like every evening, out of the headquarters. Out of the City into uninhabited area.

It did not take long until I had driven the familiar route.

Every evening, I came here, to this wide desert, which perfectly showed the beauty of this planet. The sun would set in a few Earth minutes.

I transformed into my robot-mode and looked around.

That was what I liked most on earth. Not every single inch of it was inhabited, loud and filled with the hustle of everyday life. This place was full of peace and harmony.

Apparently, endless extensive sand with a few shrubs and small trees were, anyway.

One of those trees, bare and meagre, caught my attention, when I heard a silent chuckle.

My optics inspected the tree, seemed to scan it, without finding anything, until she stepped out.

A young girl, -not much older than Mikaela when we found her and Sam a few years ago- with flowing, curly, dark blonde hair with almost golden strands.

She smiled mischievously and tilted her head to the side.

There was no fear in her look, -which confused me, because actually every human who saw us for the first time immediately started panicking-, only curiosity and something appraisingly.

Slowly, as not to scare the human girl, I took a slow step forward, but she jumped without further ado a setback.

Now I had tilted my head to the side aswell.

She's not afraid; otherwise she wouldn't be grinning like she was.

Once again, I took a step into her direction, this time a big one that almost bridged the whole distance between us. But instead of rebuilding the distance between us, as she had done it again, she jumped again only one or two metres back, still grinning.

I raised my head and looked at her sceptically.

_What kind of game is she playing with me?_

I was not in the mood for games -was I ever? - So I kneeled down and leaned my upper body down, so that my head was just a bit above her's.

"Who are you?"

My rough voice was reduced, as if I did not wanted anyone to know from this reunion, what was true.

Her mouth opened for an answer, but then she faltered and shook her head mockingly.

Surprised, I lifted my head up a little more.

_What is that supposed to mean?_

The smile on her face faded as it was replaced with a surprised glance.

_She is mocking me!_

I could live with that. After all, I was not Ironhide. She knew that I understood und again this smile spread across her face. It made my spark flutter, but I did not mind.

I repeated my question and as an answer I got once more only a silent headshaking, but she stepped closer and regarded my body, fascinated. And I regarded her's.

It was then when it struck me like a ton of bricks. She was the girl from months ago!

She was small and petite, even for a human, -hard to believe that she threw the knife so precisely! - and did not even try to bridge it with high heels, as most of the human femmes did. Fitting to the heat, she wore a light summer dress (Bumblebee had informed us about these things after some of his innumerable shopping evenings with Carly), just as Carly sometimes when she went out for a picnic with Sam and Bumblebee. Her bizarre hair reframed her narrow face and emphasized the deepness of her light blue eyes.

Then, I suddenly noticed that we were gazing at each other directly in the eyes.

Slowly she stretched her small hand and touched my lower right servo.

She felt so warm, not like the sun when it shone onto my metal skin, but constant warmth.

I cocked my head to the side yet again and watched her; how she let her fingers softly slide over the metal.

Then, suddenly, she froze and pulled her fingers back, as if she had just done something forbidden.

Panicky and unbelief were mirrored in her eyes, when she shook her head in disbelief and examined her hand.

No matter how hard I tried, I could not figure out what had panicked her like that.

There was nothing on her skin or on her hand neither on mine.

I did not understand what was going on, when she looked from her hand up to me and back. Again and again, until she finally took a step back, and another one, and another one...

She got faster and faster, stopped for a nano-click just to look at me unbelieving and then, without me doing anything against it, she turned around and ran away.

_**Please review!**_

_**Happy holidays!**_


	4. The war

Hiya! Finally a new chapter! Thanks to GalaxyWarrioress1234 for improving it. Have fun! C:

**The War**

_Energon. Energon splattered everywhere. Everything in sight was harshly leaking Energon._

_Dead, lifeless warriors. For miles around you could only see the dead. Whether innocent or not, there was no mercy. And amidst the horror, stood he. My Brother. A small rivulet of Energon ran down his blade._

_'Megatron! What have you done? How could you?'_

_He grinned. It was such a cruel grin, filled with bloodlust and concurrently of his victory's satisfaction that it made my blade come out._

_But the expression in his optics was the worst._

_So many of us thought he was insane, but the narrow ridge between insanity and ingeniousness seemed to be his personal trail. He was both, he knew it, and that was exactly what made him so dangerous. I had trusted him and he knew that. And he knew that I knew I could have prevented all of this from happening._

_And yet, I have not done it. I would regret it for the rest of my existence, to not have spilled his energon when I had the chance to. Many chances, in fact._

_'You will pay for this, Megatron! I will tear your very spark out for that. Even if it is the last thing I do!'_

"Optimus!"

Ironhide tore me out of my thoughts and I turned towards him, a confused expression clear on my faceplates. My weapons expert looked alerted and just as I was about to question him, I realized I could already see the answer.

The big screen was turned on and I could vaguely recognize the satellite image of our last mission. Since then, I had been staring at it for hours, in the hope of something like this to happen.

A faint signal shone at the exact same point from where we had killed Sideways. It was obviously a cybertronian signal, but it was too faint for an online transformer.

"What is that supposed to mean, Prime?" Galloway irritatingly asked, "I thought you finished that thing."

I rubbed my faceplate as I sighed in exasperation.

_Stay calm, Optimus. Killing him would not be a solution. Even if it would solve a lot of your problems._

"There is no need to worry. I will personally take care of that." I replied as if I was talking to a sparkling.

Galloway looked shocked for a short moment; then he scowled and narrowed his eyes in anger.

Suddenly, Skids and Mudflap excitedly ran up to me.

"Can we come with? Pleeeeeeaaasseeee!"

I inwardly groaned. They always seemed to pop up at the exact wrong moment, it was their special ability. With Galloway glaring at me like that, there was no way I was going to be able to say yes unless I wanted to impair my status right in front of our liaison.

As an answer to their question, I just raised an eyebrow and Mudflap kicked Skids up the aft, frowning at his twin.

"Shut up you slagger! He may have said yes!" He yelled.

Galloway watched them both with an expression mixed between confusion and disbelief. Then the anger returned but before he could even say anything I had already transformed and sped away.

In my rear-view mirror I saw him attempt to chase me, which was amusing, but he soon gave up and shook his head after me instead.

During the whole drive, I was hoping to come across her there. Since she had ran away, I had not heard anything from her...again!

That was two weeks ago, which actually wasn't such a great period of time for me, but because of some unrecognizable reason, this girl was refusing to leave my mind!

This time it did not take as long as it usually did for me to arrive at the destination. I wasn't interrupted throughout the entire journey. No bot had reported anything to me. Ratchet did not even send me the coordinates. But that would have made some sense, though.

I have been driving this route so often it is imprinted in my processor so I could practically drive it in stasis.

When I arrived, everything was so peaceful and silent as if our last mission had never even existed.

I drove slowly and carefully to the point where I had thrust my blade into Sideways' spark.

Indeed, there was an object lying on the ground, right from where we had picked up the cybertronian signal.

It was the knife that had taken the Decepticon's eyesight. It was covered in energon.

I stopped, only mere metres in front of it, though I did not shut off my engine. I waited...

...and waited...

...and waited.

Nothing happened. Absolutely nothing.

In the meantime, I had already stayed at the exact same point for around two hours and slowly I started to believe that she was not here. That she only did this to...wait, why did she do this?

This does not make any sense!

I decided to depart. It did not look as if she was going to come anymore.

Disappointed, I revved my engine back up (of course I had shut it off an hour ago) and drove down the street and past the couple of lonesome houses.

Except for an old, rusted Pick-up, I could not find any evidence of humans alive in this area. The peace had eventually turned into loneliness.

I surrendered looking for her.

But after 15 minutes of the continuous withered landscape, I spotted a human at the roadside.

Actually, it should not be anything special. From time to time every one of us saw hitchhiker who tried to ride with us, though they would certainly leave immediately if they knew who or what we are.

But despite the slight suspicion I have already had, when I saw her, I did not realize who originally stood there, until I closed the distance between us.

My tires screeched skidding to a halt as I made an emergency brake, though I did not even waste a single thought on setting back.

I just watched her. And she watched me.

After a short period of time, which felt as years to me, I scanned the area for any other humans who could be observing us. When I was certain of no one was here except of her and me, I transformed myself into my robot mode, though I remained standing as I gazed down at her.

Suddenly a knowing grin spread across her face and she took a step towards me. Then another one and another one and she was eventually standing directly in front of my feet.

She could have touched me, but instead she put her hands on her hips and glared at me accusingly.

"A bit impolite isn't it?" she asked. The girl had a soothingly pleasant voice that was considerably lower than Carly's.

I stared at her in surprise. No human-being had ever talked to me like that.

She raised her eyebrows provokingly, making her forehead wrinkle up slightly at the strain. I must confess that I respected her for it, though it took me a few seconds to realize what she wanted from me and then another few until my limbs obeyed the order.

When I finally kneeled down in front of her, I was reminded yet again of how extraordinarily delicate she was.

'So fragile! I just don't understand how they could survive that long on a planet such as this.' Ratchet once had said, shortly after the numbers of the deaths went through the news in the last weeks before Fallen's demise.

With 'they' he had meant the whole human race, therefore he had gotten the silent treatment from Bumblebee for a couple of days.

She took one hand off of her hip, took a step back and let a few strands of her hair nonchalantly fall across her forehead.

"I hadn't expected you to come." She commented. I gave her a sarcastic look.

"Seriously? You left me waiting." I retorted. It was so un-Primelike, but I couldn't help myself.

For a moment, she pursed her lips, made a "Hmph" sound and simply let it go with a shrug. Thereupon she turned around and walked away.

"W-wait!" I cried out after her, irritated.

_Women!_

I transformed into my bipedal mode and drove next to her, though I was not going particularly fast so that I could stay in line with her.

"Please." I added gently. She suddenly froze in place.

Her eyes seemed to search for a special point on my vehicle form,-presumably to look me in the eyes- but gave up and asked her reflection in the window of the passenger door.

"What?"

She sounded angry and annoyed. Why? I had every reason for being angry. And annoyed!

"What is your name?"

It appears to be the only question I had to ask her though there were so many that it was torturing me.

And again, she started grinning.

"Names are getting overvalued. There are much more important things, Optimus Prime." She snarkily replied.

The way she said my name made me want to shiver. But Primes do not do that.

And again she had surprised me. What was with these answers?

"But, you know my name..." I tried to argue, only to fail miserably, but I got cut off by her immediately.

"Who doesn't?"

With a winning smile on her face, she continued to walk away and left back an irritated and slightly petulant truck alone on the dusty road.

"Where is that supposed to go? What do you want from me?"

My voice seemed to echo everywhere and for a moment I ridiculously thought that Galloway would never be able to outdo me.

She stopped, though she did not turn back around to face me. It took some time until I realized that she seemed to be struggling with herself.

"No, Optimus Prime. The question is, what do you want from me?"

I paused. She was right. What do I want from her?

My engine rumbled, but I did not move forward. I knew we both wanted the same. She wanted me to drive after her and I wanted her to turn around!

At first, neither of us wanted to move, until I finally, and slowly, rolled towards her with a sigh.

When I was next to her again, my answer only came out as a whisper.

"I do not know."

No Prime should be indecisive like that! Was indecisive the right word to describe it? Lately, I had lost the trust into myself for being a Prime. Was there some kind of a deadline? May I have missed it?

"Welcome to the club." she replied sadly.

"I... do not understand?" I said confused. Her answers never made sense!

"Ditto. Me neither. I agree with that." she enumerated.

I did not answer her. Too many thoughts buzzed around in my processor.

Why does she not know either? Why should she even know it? Or did she mean that she feels the same? Could she read my thoughts? Did she answer to them?

Without really thinking about it, I opened the passenger door.

She stared at it for a moment, but before she could say something, I interrupted her.

"Wherever you want to go, I am certain that it would be faster if we drive."

She raised her eyebrow sceptically. "We?"

"Do you really think I will let you go away, after all? It took long enough to find you again! This is not an offer, so get in." I practically ordered.

For a moment, she seemed to be pleasantly surprised, but it slipped away as fast as it came, so I was not too sure.

With a simple shrug, she clambered in, for what she had to hold to the door and jump to overcome the height.

A rough laugh escaped from my throat, to which I earned a kick against the dashboard.

Out of some random reason I went so fast that she got pushed into her seat and dag her fingers into the seats.

Since when are you so childish? You're a Prime! Stop it!

Of course I went slower after I noticed what kind of shock I had given her. To avoid her tearing the door open and jumping out, I wrapped the seatbelt around her waist, hearing it click into place, and locked the doors.

"Is this supposed to be some kind of kidnapping?" she asked sarcastically, though I sensed a trace of panic in her voice.

"Of course not. I am merely trying to avoid that you jump out of a driving truck."

She snorted contemptibly and crossed her arms over her chest.

For such a small human, she was impressively stubborn. She never did anything of what I expected her to do.

"Where are we going?" she asked with a demanding undertone. She stared stolidly out of the window and did not seem to be in the mood for having a serious conversation with me.

"Wherever you want."

"Why should I want to go anywhere?"

"Because you just ran away from me, so I assume that had a goal in front of your eyes."

With an annoyed sigh, she pulled at the seatbelt.

"First: I did not run away, I merely moved a bit faster than you did. And second: You don't always have to have a goal in front of your eyes when you walk away."

To take her to the destination, I did a 180° while driving, wherefore she got thrown against the door and clung onto the leather padding of her seat again.

"Could you please stop doing that?"

"Of course. My apologies."

She froze and then replied "Wow, that's what I call a change in mood. Where are we driving to?"

I thought for a moment and answered in a monotone voice: "You will see."

The silence cut through the air like a knife until about five minutes had passed as she spoke up.

"I hate awkward silences in cars." she muttered.

"Then, why do you not break it?"

She raised an eyebrow and let herself fall against her seat.

"Well, okay." Her hand seemed to play with the sunlight that fell through my tinted windows into the cab. "Tell me something about you." she asked.

Her tone still sounded a bit bored. I did not like that. It made her seem uppish and arrogant.

"What do you know about me?"

Her hand froze for a nanoclick, and then it sank onto her lap.

"What most people know. You're leader of the Autobots, you protect earth from the Decepticons and you are mostly working with the American government."

If she would have seen it, I would have raised an eyebrow.

"Is that such a bad thing?"

The girl shrugged. "Don't know. Never worked with them."

I opened one of the windows to let some fresh air in for her. Humans need to breath.

She laid her head against the car-door frame and closed her eyes.

"So, where do you come from?"

Her hand was drawing strange patterns on my dashboard.

"From a planet, light-years away from your solarsystem, called Cybertron."

A silent 'wow' escaped from her throat and her eyes opened again.

"Cybertron." she whispered.

"It is a planet entirely of metal and much bigger than your one is."

It seemed as if she was far away. She might have been thinking about Cybertron? Dreaming of all its beauty and perfection.

"Describe it." she pleaded.

"The buildings are thousand times higher than your houses and the streets would get you into nearly every single corner of Cybertron. It has cities just as earth does. Protihex, Iacon, Kaon, Praxus and Tyger Pax. It has more moons than earth and its sky is the most beautiful I have ever seen in my life. In the lunacycles, it is dark blue with silver spots, as the stars on earth, only that they are bigger and much closer. And in the solarcycles the sky is orange, just like your sunrise, though it is for the whole solarcycle. The transitions are light purple and sometimes, you can even see Nemesis, one of our moons, the sun and the stars all at once."

I got lost in the memories of the golden age. The days, when you just stood there and saw the heaven, Cybertron and its people. The peace, the harmony, the...brotherliness.

"It must be so beautiful." she sighed.

"Yes." I whispered. "It is."

After some more minutes of reverent silence she quietly asked: "Why aren't you there, anymore?"

Oh, yes. She did not know.

"We were fighting a war, which destroyed our home planet."

She did not answer, but sadness covered her face like water when it was raining.

"Please, do not be sad. We have a new home." I tried to comfort her.

Seeing her like that made my spark hurt. Why?

"No. That's not the same."

"What do you mean?"

Yet again, her answer confused me.

"That's not the same. Cybertron is your home. You can't just say Earth is it, just because you have to stay here. Your home is where your heart belongs to."

"Spark." I corrected her absentmindedly.

She is right! For Primus sake she is so damn right!

I did not want to think about it let alone to talk about it, so I decided to change the topic.

How brave, Prime!

"You can compare it to Earth... well a bit, I guess. The people are acting the same. No matter whether medic, or politician. They are all like the people on earth."

It worked.

"But there is no one you could compare a Prime to, is there? We haven't got someone who is reining the whole planet."

I smiled to myself.

"No, probably not. But I have not always been a Prime."

"Really? You haven't always been Optimus Prime?" She asked, surprised.

"Before I became a Prime, I was Orion Pax, though I was already meant to be the heir of Sentinel Prime."

"Your name actually is Orion Pax? Orion Pax. I like that!"

Out of some unrecognizable reason, my spark jumped a little at the sound of her saying my old name.

"Orion Pax." she repeated softly.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hey guys. <strong>_

_**Please remember, that I write these stories not only for fun, but also to improve my writing and english, so to everyone who reads this:**_

_**Please leave a review with tips and critics. I'd love to hear what you guys think about it.**_

_**:D**_


	5. Betrayal?

******Hey guys.**

**I'm sorry that it took em some time, but here's the new chapter. **

**Unfortunately, I will not be able to update within my summer holidays, D: **

** so I'll update everything I have today. **

**Anyways have fun! :)**

* * *

><p><strong>Betrayal?<strong>

"Orion Pax.", I whispered.

He may be a giant alien robot from another planet, but he somehow reminded me of a small boy, trying to be strong in the darkest hours. He had the whole world to bear on his shoulders and only his alone. No one would even attempt to help him.

How was it possible, that a single male was forced to fight a war he hasn't even started?

Apparently, he fought this war alone. I didn't know much about the ones who were against him. The ones called Decepticons. Of course, the government had told the public about them, but only as much as necessary. No normal human knew more about them, than that they were from outer space and attacking the earth. Which was why the Autobots were here.

How has he been before the war? I knew what people said about Optimus Prime. The leader of the Autobots, protectors of the earth.

He was distant, reserved and hardened. Never showed any emotions.

But that wasn't the one I had met. He had shown emotions. He had talked to me about his past and the past of his world. The Prime in the news would have never gone on high-speed, just to mock a human. The Prime on the TV wouldn't mock a human!

Then, if this wasn't Optimus Prime, who was it?

_**Optimus Prime's POV**_

She was silent. Somehow, this remembered me of a story Bumblebee once told us. He had it from Carly. It was about a woman who could not talk, so her real love was not able to find out her name, or even that she loved him. There had been something with a fishtail, but I was not able to remember what...

Anyway, we would arrive in about five minutes and I did not want to let these five minutes pass by without a single word.

She changed her position a bit, so that her arms were leaned out of the open window and her hair flew with the wind as I drove a bit faster. She closed her eyes again; the worried expression on her face was gone.

"Can you guess now, where we are going to?"

It seemed as if she was just now realizing the most obvious thing. We were on our way, to the place we had met the second time. The desert, where I always watched the sunset. The perfect place for an undisturbed talk.

"Yes." She replied happily.

I changed my opinion. There would be enough time to talk with her, when we would have arrived. Now I only wanted to watch her. She looked different then the other humans. The ones, who worked with us, were much older, except for Sam, but he was exhausted from everything he had to do for us...

He had become older much faster than he actually should have, though Bumblebee did not notice it.

The girl did not look tired or exhausted. She looked young and full of life. Her deep blue eyes looked so curious and she was indeed still a child, but she did not seem naive. She seemed to know much more, than I actually had expected her to and I could sense all that just from the look of her bright, blue, eyes.

When I stopped and gently unzipped her seat belt, she walked out and waited for me to transform.

"You know, at first, you seemed too cool to be real, than I thought you are too dangerous to be unreal and now, I think you are... too much like we are, to not be real. You walk like we do, you talk and think like we and you have names -though they're a bit strange- and you... you are just so... I don't know! It's so hard to describe! On one side, you are just like we are, but on the other side, you are so different! Isn't it hard for you to believe that there are others outside? Others, so different from you, that they're not even made out of the same … 'material'?"

When I kneeled down to her again, I could not avoid a smile. This definitely was the question of a child. And yet, she was right.

"One day, you will stop thinking about those things, because you know, that you are just too far away from the answers. No matter how many different planets and species you have seen, there will still be others. Too much to see, too much to understand. Answering those questions is nearly impossible."

And as always I did not expect her reaction. She shrugged, turned around and walked towards her tree.

I stood up, to follow her, only to see her climbing on it -I feared the puny thing would break and she would fall, so I prepared myself to catch her, but the tree did not seem to be impressed by her weight. Though she was much taller then it's branches.

Gracefully, she sat down on the branch. I had to smirk when I found the reason. She wanted to get nearer to my optic-level. I kneeled down, so that our faces were directly in front of the others, only separated by a few centimetres.

"Would it be impolite if I asked you to tell me something about you?"

Her big blue eyes stared at me and seemed to give my logical processors an overload. "Why? What would you want to know about me?"

Was I mistaken or did I really hear sarcasm in her voice?

"Hmmm... let's see... how about your name?"

Her smile disappeared. "Yes. That would be impolite."

I stopped. "I-I am sorry. I did not mean to..."

She waved her hand in a dismissive hand motion. "Yeah, yeah. I know."

And again, a sigh escaped my lips. "You are never going to tell me your name, are you?"

As always, she smiled again. If something brought her out of her stillness, then she could find back into it rather quickly. "Probably, one day. When or if I know I can trust you, Orion Pax."

At least, that was a no.

* * *

><p>"Wait, you already are on earth for THAT long? How come I don't know about that? How come publicity doesn't know about that?"<p>

I laughed. By now, I sat on the ground and watched her dancing around the trees. It was already dark, but my spotlights gave her the ability to see where she was jumping to.

"Yes. We were searching for Sam's house, because he knew where the Allspark was located. And I do not think that the government saw it as that important to inform you."

She did a cartwheel and disappeared behind another tree. Then she looked around it like a little girl and giggled. "Who's Sam?"

Oh. Right, she did not know.

"He is the descendant of Captain Archibald Witwicky who discovered Megatron after he had made a crash-landing in the Arctic. Somehow he had activated his navigation-system and that was how the coordinates of the cube got engraved into his glasses. Sam had still got these glasses, so we searched him to get them. It was our only chance to get the Allspark before the Decepticons did."

She stopped dancing around and looked at me curiously. "Tell me some more about that."

Without letting her gaze off of me, she came closer and sat down in front of me. The contrast in this situation was really strong. The girl sitting in front of my feet was not even as tall as them. I had to smile when I once again realized how small she was.

"It appeared that Sam did not know about the cube or even about our existence. Bumblebee, my best scout, had taken place as his guardian until we had arrived to secure the glasses. Unfortunately, the American government had detected our signals and tried to hunt us down. They captured Bumblebee after his attempt on protecting Sam and his former partner Mikaela. It was impossible for us to rescue him without harming the humans." I shook my head sadly.

"But I heard of him. He survived, didn't he?"

My gaze returned back to her and I continued, "Yes. Sam rescued him with the help of a group of Soldiers including Lennox and Epps. I believe you have not heard from them yet, have you?"

She pursed her lips. "Nope. Anything important for further story?"

I nodded. "They helped us retrieving the Allspark and hiding it in a city, where the Decepticons first attacked. Sam, Mikaela and the soldiers risked their lives to help us. We are very grateful for that. Though we have lost a good comrade in battle."

She puckered her forehead. "You lost a comrade?"

"Jazz. My first Lieutenant. He died as one of my bravest warriors, though he actually was a saboteur."

"Tell me more about him, please." She did not say it like some of the reporters on earth would. She truly wanted to know more about my former first Lieutenant.

Instead of answering I projected a hologram and showed her some of my memories.

Him transforming and jumping onto an old car as if it was a couch. 'What's crackin' little bitches? This looks like a cool place to kick it!'

A silver Pontiac solstice racing down a street in the desert.

Jazz and Bumblebee on patrol when we had still been on Cybertron.

"Oh.", she interrupted. "You don't have to show me everything. I know how much those things hurt."

I scowled. How did she knew how I felt about Jazz' death? Why would she know how that felt?

Abruptly, my processors stopped thinking, when she -in a comforting gesture, I think – laid her hand on my leg.

"Thank you.", I said.

Primes are polite.

With a cough, I broke the awkward silence. "It is late. May I drive you home?"

She smiled. "Of course. If you know where that is."

"No, but you will tell me. Otherwise, I will not leave your side. I already lost you for a few times and I do not want this to happen again."

Annoyed, she rolled her eyes. "I'll tell you where you can drive me to and we'll meet again... next week, same place, same time?"

Sounds like an appointment...

I nodded. That was alright.

When she jumped into my alt mode, sat down on the driver's seat and fastened the seat belt by herself, I somehow lost the fear to not see her ever again. She would have insisted in walking home by herself if she would not want to see me again.

"So, where am I supposed to drive you to?"

She lay back in the seat and closed her eyes. "Just let me get off in the next big city."

In the next big city?

I already drove when I asked her, "You do not really have a place to stay at, do you?"

Cuddling deeper into the seat she replied tiredly, "I'll sleep in a motel."

Somehow I did not want to leave her without knowing that she had a place to stay, but what else could I do? Sam would not take her for one night, would he...? But I did not want anyone to know about her.

I looked through the rear view mirror, just to notice she had fallen asleep.

Because I had not exactly agreed with her, I did not wake her up when we finally drove through the next big city.

First: she looked so peaceful and happy when she slept.

Second: I would have a better feeling, if she was in the city next to our headquarters.

It was already late in the night, when I came to a stand, directly in front of an alright looking Motel not half a kilometre away from headquarters.

"Hmmmmmm...Are we already there?" she asked, while stretching her limbs and yawning spark-endingly.

A rough laugh escaped from my throat. "Yes. We are already there."

"I fell asleep, didn't I? Sorry."

"No need to apologize."

With a smile she laid back again until she, unfortunately, got out and left without another word.

She held her word. We met again as we originally had planned. And we met again the week later. And the one after that.

It became some kind of regular thing. I told her more about Cybertron, the Decepticons, the Autobots, the war and everything else she wanted to know, in an attempt to get her to trust me. One day, it came to my mind. A thought, I could not confirm, neither could I exclude it.

My processor would not stop thinking about it. Could it be? It could not be! But, what if it did? And what if not?

She did not seem like that to me. Not in any way, but she would not want to tell me anything about her! There was no obvious explanation for that! On the other hand, for whom would she work? Who wanted to know information about us that could not be found in the government database?

Should I do something? And if yes, what?

What if she was a spy?

* * *

><p><strong>I know, I know, worst ending ever. :P <strong>

**Ms. Noname: Yeah! why'd you have to make it end like that? **

**OP: In my opinion, not even she did know what is about to happen next. **

**Ms. Noname: Then I suggest you find out quickly, because I do not like what I am reading! *picks out a knife***

**Mrs. KO: ... I do know what's about to happen next! I probably just want the reviewers to leave some ideas behind. One of Them may be right... *Turns around frantically hisses into the screens* Please! Help me!**

**OP: However, the author doesn't own anything and would like you to leave your opinions and ideas behind.**

**Please R&R. Thanks!**


	6. Good times or bad times?

_****Yes, yes I know! I didn't update for years! Well, here you go._

_Hope you guys enjoy it. _

* * *

><p><em><strong>Good times or bad times?<strong>_

Bad thought. She wasn't. I knew it.

Once again, I was in the desert with her. Week per week, we had gotten to know more about each other. Probably even enough that she'd trust me. At least, now I knew that I could trust her. The main reason was that I was different when I was with her. I wasn't the emotionless, wise Autobot leader Optimus Prime. With her, I was me again. Orion Pax. With her, there was no war. There was no fear, no betrayal, and no hate. Everything with her was beautiful. Even the small tree, from which I had thought it had died a long time ago, was growing and looking healthier week per week. Because of her.

I laid back into the sand, head tilted to the right, silently watching her lying next to me. I closed my eyes, her right palm caressing the sand, left one caressing mine. The golden waves of her hair surrounded her head like what humans call a halo. Then, she finally started speaking again.

"I am vegetarian, but the best food in the world will always be sushi. No matter where you eat it, wasabi always tastes horrible. Well, at least to me. A guy I once met couldn't get enough of it."

She talked for about half an hour. I had told her, I wanted to know as much about her as she could tell. I still needed time to understand that she was really talking to me like that, but my processor saved every word that came over her lips. No matter how small the detail or how unimportant the information was. I wanted to know everything.

"I never had a true home. My parents moved at least every three years to another country, because my father was always searching for another job and my mother loved him so much, that she followed him wherever he was going. The truth was, she was afraid he would never come back if she stayed. But he would, I know that now. The only thing I inherited from him was his wanderlust. What takes me to places like this? My only wish. Travel and never stop. See the whole world. He never told my mother. Afraid, she would leave him, though I knew she had found out, but I think that just made her love him even more.

I was born in Spain, moved to Italy for another two years and then lived in Germany for three and a half years. Then I traveled to Thailand for three to four years and then came back to Europe after that. With fourteen, I began a new life with an uncle in Alabama after I had stayed the last five years in Ireland. I have never felt like home anywhere. Nowhere, though Ireland had had the longest time I had stayed. Then I started traveling on my own. With seventeen, my uncle died and left me money and his house. I sold it and took the money to travel around. All I have with me since then is a bag with a credit card, some clothes, a family photo and a book where I write down every place I come around. By now, the place that mostly felt like home, the city that mostly felt like home, is San Francisco. It should actually only had been a short stop when I had arrived there first, but I had stayed there for three months. The longest time I had stayed anywhere, since I had lived with my uncle in the old house in Alabama.

Not the city itself makes me think of it as a home, but the people I met there."

She laughed. "I hadn't even sat in the bus for five minutes and I already had a friend! You just have to stick out a bit from the crowd, and you're the conversation partner number one. Everyone I talked to treated me, after five minutes of talk, like a member of their family."

That actually didn't surprise me.

"Some people have said to me 'America is the land of dreams'. I thought they were crazy when I first arrived here. It's hot, full of snakes and spiders and other stuff and there are so many poor people here, but the time I spent here, was the most beautiful time of my life by now. I mean, I met so many people, so many different cultures, religions and in the end, I met... you."

I didn't know what I was doing when I finally found me, kissing her. Only with the tip of my lips, but it was enough. She blushed, turned her head away and I saw the smile crawling onto her face.

"Do you trust me?" I whispered. The single question that had been torturing me throughout the whole day.

She looked back at me. Not smiling anymore. She looked... confused? "...Yes?" It sounded like a question and yet it was an answer.

I laughed, lifted her up and sat her on my chest armor. She was silent. My spark jumped against my chest as if it wanted to break through the armor. Did she hear it?

"Go on." she said.

"What?"

"Go on. Ask me." Was she serious?

"What is your name?" My voice shivered. It didn't feel right. Not like the right moment to obtain this information.

She smiled. "Do you really want to know it? Tell me, Orion. Does it still mock you as much as it did when you first met me?"

No. The answer was no. I didn't need a name anymore. Simply having her around was good. Would a name change that? Was a name that important?

"No."

She sighed. It was neither a relieved sigh, nor a happy one, but my processor couldn't find out what it meant.

I lifted my head and gently kissed her golden hair. She snickered.

"What?" I asked. "What's so funny?"

She turned around, so that she lay on her stomach and rested her head on her palms.

"I just thought that Optimus Prime would never do that."

Her statement surprised me. I was Optimus Prime. She knew that, didn't she?

Once more, the silence of the desert got broken by her snicker. "You are too cute, do you know that? Nothing of you is like Optimus Prime. I've seen him on television. He's always so serious, so tense, and so eager in making the right decisions. You are different from him, Orion."

Orion. I smirked. When she said my name... I mean my old name back on Cybertron of course!

When she said it, my spark jumped against my chest and it felt like it would explode. For one second, it was like there was only us here. No desert, no sky, no earth, no tree, no war and no lost home planet. Only her. I wanted to kiss her again and nearly screamed out in rage, as the sound of a jet made her eyes let go of mine and destroyed the moment. It took all of my self-control to not blow the idiot out of the sky.

But could I have known, that that would have prevented me from so much suffer?

* * *

><p><em><strong>Third POV, Decepticon warship<strong>_

_Yes! This shall be it!_

The Decepticon leader stood on the platform in the control room, arms crossed behind his back, optics on the big screen that showed the darkness of the night. Dazzling lightning flashed through the black clouds, followed by growling thunder.

The plan formed itself as always in front of the red glowing optics, began slowly to take shape in his processor and became from nanoclick to nanoclick more and more genius. A knowing smile touched his lips as he could see it directly in front of him. See, how his bright polished blade punctured the Prime's spark chamber as if it insisted of soft flesh. He could smell the energon that slowly left his brother's body and he could hear the agonizingly distorted whisper of him, coming out of a mouth that was torn open as if the Prime wanted to scream.

_"Megatron!"_

But he wouldn't scream. Prime's never screamed. And his perfect, little brother was a Prime.

_I feel you. I hear you. I'll find you._

The sentences floated through his processor and through the bond he still shared with his 'beloved' brother. The dark Lord savoured every single energon imbued syllable.

"Brother." he whispered, aware that he could hear him. Though the Prime had learned how to lock him away. The dark Lord had to confess, that he respected his brother for the strength he brought up to keep him out of his mind.

How many times had Megatron called him his brother, back when his name had still been Megatronus? Back, when he had still been a gladiator, the gladiator of Iacon. In a special way, they still were that. Brothers. It simply depended on how one defined the word "brother". Whether one saw the inseparable, facing everything together brothers, they once had been, or the once, that lusted for revenge, hated each other till the death, that they were now.

Megatron knew, that Optimus was aware he would show himself unworthy for the post of a Prime, if he let anybody else see the deep hate he felt for his brother. Megatron could sense it through the bond; they still shared and always would. The bond that let them both be one.

"Brother" He said it once more, this time with a bittersweet taste on his glossa. "Soon, very soon."

With a sigh, the Decepticon leader let his hands fall to his side and turned around to stare Starscream directly in the optics.

As he had expected, a surprised, uncertain and slightly afraid smile came upon the face of his second in command who now bend down, so that he appeared even smaller than he actually already was. The mistake in this picture full of humility and fear, were the hands clenched into fists, he pressed against his body. Everything of his posture seemed to scream "Traitor! Traitor!"

"What is it?" the dark Lord roared at him irritated. He had enough to think about without the news Starscream would bring him.

Of course, the second in command immediately got even smaller and more insecure. At least his body said that. His eyes glowed from contempt.

"We have located Optimus Prime's current position, _Master_."

The way he said it, _Master_, had always been his personal weak point. He emphasized it too strong as if he could make the dark Lord believe, that he truly esteemed him as his very leader, or at least tolerated that.

Megatron grimaced in a disgusted manner. The fact that his second in command had, from the beginning, been bent on planning to replace the dark Lord with himself; he had never really been a threat to him. It wouldn't even bother him at all, but for his taste, Starscream's methods missed the finesse. They still needed the last refinement. Until now, they had simply been annoying.

But Starscream had potential. A Decepticon was supposed to be unscrupulous, determined and ready for anything to convert his plan into reality. That was the reason, why Soundwave would never become his second in command. His loyalty may have pleased the dark Lord, but he could do so much more with Starscream. He only needed a way, to get some discipline into the narcissistic flyer.

"Alright then. Inform Soundwave about my absence. You will be in charge until I return, Starscream."

He considered himself to pronounce the flyers name exactly as he had done it with his leader's title, to give him a bit more respect and a warning. Starscream understood it. Should he do one more mistake, then he would be wise to join the Allspark by his own hand.

Without another word, the dark Lord turned his back on him and moved towards the exit. Some of his drones bowed when he passed them, but to him, they weren't even worth a single look.

Once again, the coldness floated through him, delicious coldness, which filled his spark. He knew that his brother felt it too. Probably the only reason he kept Megatron out of his mind. The coldness brought back the hate. The war. The memories.

As he arrived at the vessel's deck, his feet carried him to the rim of the warship. His warship. The blood red eyes looked down the abysm beneath him. The sky was veiled with black clouds so that the earth's surface wasn't visible. Thunder and lightning accompanied him, as he let himself fall of the rim, exempt of everything, with a relaxed smile on his face. His body dashed into the deepness, seemed to fall forever, until he finally transformed and accelerated, as if he wanted to crash land. When he broke through the blanket of clouds, he saw the blue beneath him. Blue, like the energon he had spilled, when he had killed his femme creator. Blue, like the optics his brother possessed. Blue, like this whole planet he was trapped on.

Abruptly, he changed his direction of flight and was just a short time later on his way to the coordinates Soundwave had sent him.

As always when he flew, the old memories from the war made their way back up into his processor again. Things that made others insane. Screaming. Crying. Begging. Dying transformers, dead transformers and spilled energon everywhere. But the worst of all, Cybertron, his home planet, was dead.

The dark Lord grinned internally.

What made Autobots collapse in mourn, let him grow stronger. Let the coldness within him grow and grow. It hadn't found a limit yet.

Simply the thought of the Autobots that had died by his hand, was enormous and brought the urge back with it.

_Soon. Very soon._

Indeed, he himself was very close to getting insane, but he wasn't yet. Not completely.

It truly wasn't hard to find the Prime. He was lying in his robot mode within a desert; the sun reflected itself on his armor. His optics were locked onto the human who was lying comfortably on his chest.

_The boy! _Megatron thought immediately and was already about to attack, but he was wrong. With a closer look, it was obvious that this human was a female. The Decepticon leader was sure that he had never met her before. He never forgot a face, not even that of a simple vermin. But the way Optimus looked at her...

_Disgusting!_

A growl that was even more impressive than the thunder which had surrounded the warship escaped his throat.

_Now he finally hit his personal low point!_

For a short moment, the thought of blasting them away – the human vermin laid directly above his spark, the perfect position to finish them both at once- and show Optimus how easy it was to terminate a human, was too sweet to resist, but suddenly it returned.

The coldness. The bittersweet coldness, followed by a brilliant plan.

A loud, rough laugh escaped his throat as he changed his direction again. "Optimus Prime, I finally found your vulnerability!"

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><p><em><strong>Optimus' POV<strong>_

**Ratchet-:: Optimus, we have to talk. :: **My CMO's sudden com-link surprised me.

**Optimus-:: What is wrong? ::**

**Ratchet-:: From optic to optic. :: **The tone he used sounded more like a death threat than a command.

I sighed. She was still inside me while I was driving to the next big city. It would take a while to get to the Autobot base, when I wanted to get her back to the motel where I always let her get out.

**Optimus-:: Now? :: **My voice sounded desperate, but Ratchet ignored that.

**Ratchet-:: Yes, now! ::**

I changed the direction I was driving to and saw her puzzled look through the rear view mirror. She knew something was wrong, but I had already told her about the com-link, so I hoped she could put one and one together.

**Optimus-:: Ratchet, is that really necessary? :: **No answer. Over the years, I had learned to accept Ratchet and his motives. Everyone should do that, if he wasn't interested in a dent from one of his wrenches.

**Optimus-:: Give me an hour. ::**

"What is wrong?" She looked worried. Her eyebrows were pulled together and a wrinkle had formed between them.

"I have to get back. Ratchet wants to talk to me about something." I answered stiffly.

The look got even more worried. "You didn't tell your comrades about us, did you? If it gets public, that you have an affair with a human..."

"AN AFFAIR?! What there is between us is no affair!" I roared, truly meaning it.

**Ratchet-:: No. An hour is too long. Tell me where you are and I'll come to you. ::**

"But it must not be more than that! You have no idea in how much trouble that would get us both. And especially you!"

My processor was having an overload. Two people talking to me at once was just too much! And what was wrong with her? We simply kissed! Was that already an affair for a human? And if yes, was I only an affair for her? Did I even want more than that?

**Optimus-:: YOU WILL WAIT FOR ME AT THE BASE! HALF AN HOUR! :: **The growl let Ratchet go silent for a click.

"And you will stop talking like this! I don't mind if it would get me in trouble. As long as nobody knows about it, everything's fine."

**Ratchet-:: But they... ::**

"But they..."

_**Optimus-"::NO BUTS!::" **_I shouted at both of them.

Suddenly, everything went silent. I didn't mind if Ratchet was shocked, but the expression on her face did bother me.

"I'm sorry." I started, still trying to control my temper. "My behavior was inexcusable. I just had to make a lot of decisions this month and I don't possess the strength it takes to make this one. I swear; you will be perfectly safe. No one knows about us and I will do everything in my might to keep our secret safe. I promise."

She smiled again. At least a bit, though it was a sad smile. Then she leaned forward and gave the dashboard a soft kiss. "I know. I'm sorry too."

With her head leaned against the window, she closed her eyes. "But I am afraid. Afraid of what the government would do if they knew that I..."

"But they don't and never will!", I tried to reassure her, but failed miserably.

"I know." she repeated, though I could hear she didn't believe me. "I know."

Slowly, I came to a halt in front of her motel. She had been silent throughout the whole drive.

Even now, she wouldn't say a word. I unzipped her seat belt and she opened the door. Her small legs had to get over a pretty big distance -at least for her- to touch the ground again. She jumped down and closed the door. Then she leaned over my hood, gave it a kiss and disappeared.

Once again, my spark seemed to try to jump out of its chamber. And if it wasn't enough, I would have to meet Ratchet now. Perfect! I prayed to Primus that my medical officer wouldn't notice anything.

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><p>Okay, that was it. Next chapter's planned for about next Tuesday. Hope you guys enjoyed it. Reviews are appreciated XD<p> 


	7. Broken promises

And the next chapter. Hope you guys like it ;)

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><p><em><strong>Broken promises<strong>_

I just drove down the streets, about three seconds after she had disappeared inside the motel, when I could hear the loud noise of sirens behind me, as only emergency vehicles had them. A quick look into the rear view mirror told me, that there was an ambulance behind me. I drove a bit to the side as it was the rule on earth, so that it could pass me, but it did not. How odd. I looked once again and could now see that the emergency vehicle had no actual driver. How could I not have foreseen this? With a big sigh, I drove on and let the ambulance follow me. I should have known it.

**Optimus-:: What do you want, Ratchet?::**

**Ratchet-:: To talk to you. NOW!::**

I did not answer. Instead, I lead him out of the city, into a lonely area surrounded by dust and sand where no sign of any organic life form was found. It was one of the places, where your visibility appeared to have no frontiers. When I came to a halt, I turned off my engine and waited. The ambulance was directly in front of me, engine still running. None of us said a word. The silence stayed like this for more than about five earth minutes.

"Optimus, I know it." he suddenly whispered with a sigh. His voice sounded rough, as if he knew the consequences. I couldn't answer. Instead, I stayed still and watched him for another five minutes.

"I swear upon the Allspark, no one will hear it from me, Optimus. But you have to accept, that something like that is impossible."

This was him. Ratchet. He had always known so much more than anybody else did. So much more, than anybody would ever know. There were times that I simply did not understand why I was a Prime when it could have been Ratchet. There were times, when he would have earned this so much more. He would probably have been able to prevent Cybertron from dying if he had been the Prime instead of me. He would probably have stopped Megatron before he could have even attempted in starting the war. He would probably have done everything better.

"Please, don't make this situation worse than it already is. You have already seen in which way the government thinks about us. If that gets public, we are doomed and as will be this planet."

"I do understand your concern my old friend, but I guarantee you, that as long as nobody knows about it, we will be perfectly safe."

Ratchet rolled a bit closer. "No Optimus. You do not understand. I will keep your secret, but who knows if one day a human will spot you two? Or the government becomes suspicious about your regular absence? Then there will, no doubt, come something that not even you can control. Optimus, what do you even want to do with her? She is about twenty times smaller than you and even if you did love her that much, you won't be able to..."

"I know!" I interrupted him. That was some sort of conversation I really did not want to have with Ratchet. "I do not intend in those things Ratchet. Simply being near her is enough!" Which was true. As long as she was there, I did not need much more. And was he really thinking I loved this girl? I liked her. I really did, with my entire spark. I was interested in her, but she was an interesting person anyway, so everyone would be. And I may even have fallen for her a bit, but love? No.

Ratchet sighed. It was that kind of sigh, like when Lennox tries to remind Bumblebee again and again that he's not allowed to leave the base without telling any of them. But how should he do that, if he could not speak?

"That's what they all say..." he murmured and I had to think a moment about it, before I realized that that wasn't really meant for me, so I stayed silent.

"Who is this girl?" he then asked. He did not sound curious or accusingly, but how could I answer him? "I am afraid, I cannot tell you. I do not know her name either."

"Where did you meet her?" As if that wasn't obvious enough. But on the other side, it had been so many months ago. "The day we had to face Sideways. She was the one who had thrown the knife." I whispered, not getting out more. My spark began to hurt. I had broken my promise and that not even one hour after I had given it.

"I know about her for much longer than you think. After you went away last month. When you came back, there was a difference. You were different Optimus. I know that she is good for you, but if the government ends that one day, you will be even worse than before."

I did not want to hear that. Did not want to let anybody tell me what could happen! What would happen! There was no possibility the future could be foreseen that precisely. In fury, my engine roared to life and I drove away, letting back a sorrowful old friend.

_**The girl's POV**_

I sat on the bed in the motel Orion had brought me to. Armed with a hairbrush, I started a merciless fight against the knots in my hair. It was Sunday, so I had a lot of time. That wasn't so bad at all. I had much to think about.

For example, what did I feel for Orion Pax? No, that question was too hard for being the first one. Next one. How should we both go on? No, for that I needed the answer to the first question. Was I willing to sacrifice everything to be with him? Was I willing to take on the risks it brings with it, to be with him? Or, was I willing to give up on him? Right now, probably no. I felt like I could trust him. I did trust him, but what if I had started that too fast? If he didn't earn my trust? So many questions and yet so little answers.

I believed, I would be able to fully trust him. He had promised me to never tell anybody. He had promised me no one would ever find out. If he really held that promise, did I have another choice than trusting him then? Did I even want another choice?

When my hair was freed from the knots, I threw the hairbrush on the table next to the TV and lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. It was white ingrain wallpaper and I imagined seeing his face in it. There were his big eyes, there his battle mask and there...

Metallic clicking noises distracted me, because it ran for about four seconds and it wasn't like the one you hear when you lock or unlock something. It was hard to describe. I turned my head to the side, but could see no possible origin of it. I lifted the blanket and looked under the bed, but it was too dark to see anything, so I tiptoed to the door and turned on the light. When I then looked under my bed, there was again nothing. Looking around the room once more, I shrugged and let myself fall on the bed again.

I tried to find the picture of Optimus in the wallpaper once more, but it was gone. Instead, I saw dogs, flowers, keys and other random stuff. After fifteen more minutes of imagining things on the ceiling, I stood up again, walked to the door once more and turned off the light. The room wasn't dark though. There was still some light coming through the windows, but I had put the curtains in front of them, so that there came less light with less heat through. After blinking a few times until my eyes got used to the dim light, I could finally see the room again.

Then, I shuffled into the bathroom, white and colder than the rest of the motel room, and brushed my teeth. The door was still a small gap wide open, which let a narrow strip of light come into the bathroom. With the toothbrush still in my mouth, I put my hair together, because the heat was so strong that you could barely breathe. The air conditioning system must have been broken. I would have to ask at the reception about it later. When I leaned against the sink and my gaze fell onto the shower, I decided to take one before I'd ask. My clothes were already wet from the sweat, so it would be a good idea.

_**Third POV, Decepticon base, three hours ago**_

Starscream hadn't had much time to do anything until his leader returned. He hadn't even been able to track Megatron's position. Soundwave had been watching him throughout the whole time. Either he or Laserbeak had been in Starscream's sight. The communication's chief could get really annoying and his loyalty to his current leader could get dangerous for Starscream's plans. He had no time for such a strong warrior on the other team.

With a loud rumble, Megatron landed on the deck of his warship. Slowly, he walked down its aisles, this cruel grin on his face. The drones stepped back and bowed quickly, their red optics filled with fear as their leader walked by. But for him, there was only one aim. He didn't greet Blackout as he crossed his path and bowed, aware of something being wrong with his master.

As Megatron entered the command centre, Soundwave immediately bowed, but Starscream just gave his master an appraising gaze. "What his wrong, Master?" The red glowing optics focused on his second in command, until he gave up and bowed out of fear. There was no way he would survive an attack from the Decepticon's leader as long as he was in this mood.

"Soundwave!" he roared. The communication's chief looked up at his Lord and Master, awaiting his command. His face plate was empty, no emotion coming over it. The floor shivered as Megatron took a few steps into his direction. "I need Laserbeak."

Soundwave rose and a big part of his chest armor transformed into said metal bird, flying into Megatron's direction. The Lord stretched out his arm, so that Laserbeak could land on it. "Leave us alone!" he whispered roughly to the present Decepticons, which followed his command without a single word, though most of them questioned the insanity in his voice.

After the door had closed behind them, Megatron went in front of the big screen, which allowed him to see out of the warship. "Laserbeak, I have a mission for you." The birds clicking told the Decepticon leader that he understood. "You have to observe someone for me and get me all the information about the human you can get." He produced a hologram and showed Soundwave's minion the picture of Optimus Prime with the human girl. Another row of clicking noises.

"No one will know about this mission except from us.", he said, though he was truly aware, that Soundwave heard every word throughout Laserbeak, but he also wanted and knew that he understood that he was a part of the mission. "The Prime must not know about this until I have everything I need, is that understood?" And again, clicking noises. The eyes of the bird started glowing and Megatron knew he would have no problems with this mission, so he let his follower fly with a wide grin. _Optimus should have never allowed me to find out about her!_ the dark Lord and Prime's brother thought and from this moment on, the future of the war was settled.

_**Optimus POV, Autobot base**_

The soldiers already opened the gate when they saw me coming around the corner. One of them, he was younger, probably about Sam's age, took a step back and saluted. He looked up, did not dare looking directly at me. I have never seen him here before, and I knew that he was new here, when one of the older soldiers hit him on the back of his head, so that he stopped saluting. Did they not tell him before, that soldiers did not salute to me? That it was too conspicuous to do that in public, saluting a truck? How odd.

Ratchet entered shortly after me the base and transformed. He walked over to Ironhide, but gave me a suspicious look until he turned to him. I drove to the middle of the hall, shut off my engine and stayed there. Lennox frowned at me and turned to Bumblebee. "What's wrong with him?" he asked, fully aware that I could hear him. Bumblebee looked at me and shrugged. "No idea. Probably Sideswipe. Who knows?", he played the record of Ironhide.

Unfortunately, Sideswipe heard that, rolled over and punched Bumblebee in the back. "Hey, stop accusing me things from which you have no idea! It wasn't me, okay?" He was clearly not happy with the young scout's statement, but stepped back when Bumblebee turned around to him. "Don't ya dare go touchin' meh!" His arm transformed into a canon and he aimed it right for Sideswipes spark chamber. How odd. Bumblebee never acted like that.

Then, an obviously annoyed Ironhide crossed the room with long steps and laid a hand on Bumblebee's chest. "Hey, calm down you two. No need for a fight." Every gaze turned to rest on them; some of the soldiers had already begun to step back. No one here wanted to get near a fight in which Ironhide was involved, but I had stayed where I was. Normally, I would have broken that up, but Ironhide knew that I would not be doing this job today.

He pushed them away from each other and unlocked his canons. "Unless you wanna fight with me." Bumblebee shook his head and Sideswipe scowled at my weapon expert. Then they both turned into different directions and walked away.

"Prime." Ironhide sighed while coming over. "I won't be able to do that always. One day they'll lose their respect of me, or I'll lose my patience with them. I know you have much to think about these days, but this is your job." He lowered his canons again and then walked over to Chromia.

**Ratchet-:: Don't worry. Be careful and they'll never find out. But don't underestimate the humans...::**

Don't underestimate the humans? My gaze twitched to Lennox. No, Ratchet didn't mean him. Neither Epps nor the humans from the first group of soldiers. But who else could he... Galloway!

The black car drove into the hall and said human got out. His gaze wandered around the hall, stopped at Sideswipe sending hate filled glares, got over to Ratchet ignoring him and finally locked on to me. Lennox saw him, mumbled "Oh shit!" and quickly rushed over to him. His head turned around to me while he was jogging and his mouth formed a single word. Transform.

I knew it was no command. Everyone could have seen that by the distress in his eyes, but I didn't like the way everybody was talking to me today. First she, than Ratchet, Lennox and in a few seconds also Galloway. Before he could climb up the stairs to the scaffolding, I transformed and glared at him. My self-control was so low, that I was near crushing him for saying a single wrong word. He did not look at me while he got up the stairs. He was probably the only human whose loss I could afford. Disrespectful as he was, he spoke to me while his eyes were locked onto a soldier next to him, "Where have you been these days, Prime?"

I stayed calm. "I have been either here or outside our base." Arcee chuckled and Elita 1 tried desperately to get her friend quiet while I gave them stern looks. Ironhide loaded his gun, as if to promise the human in front of me, that I had stronger back up than he ever would. Bumblebee and Sideswipe positioned themselves next to him and I lightly shook my head as Galloway said, "Yes, I already heard that. But I mean where exactly have you been while you weren't inside our base?"

"Where exactly have you been while you weren't inside the base?" Epps then yelled from next to my feet. His gun was clicking too. And I thought _my_ self-control was low today. I looked down at him and shook my head again. The other soldiers also let their weapons down, but they still glared at Galloway as if they wanted to stab him with their looks, what somehow made me proud. We had won human friends who would go much further for us than we had expected.

I stared at him, clearly looking as if I awaited an answer. "That would be my business then." he hissed. Now he was looking at me, clearly as if he awaited an answer from me. And I just opened my mouth to give him one, when an unfamiliar voice from behind me suddenly meant, "That would be the Primes business then."

Everyone, Autobots and humans turned around to see the one who had spoken. Of course it had been a human, but I did not expect him to be the one. It was the soldier that had saluted me. He obviously felt uncomfortable with all this attention on him and clung onto his gun as if it was the only thing that could hold him alive. I frowned. This was his end at the Autobot base. I knew that. Galloway did not want any people around here which were more loyal to us than to him. Lennox, Epps and the remaining older soldiers were only tolerated, because they had been in the first group of soldiers we had ever worked with.

The conversation with Galloway was over. That was confirmed, when he slowly got onto the ground again and walked over to the young soldier. No, he was not as old as Sam. He was much younger. Younger than twenty. Probably just seventeen or eighteen. As Galloway stood in front of him, the young man lifted his chin and looked at me, and then he turned around and followed Galloway and a few others out of the base. We would never see him in here again. Just like Sam, if Bumblebee hadn't protested against Galloway and if we all hadn't stood behind him. They had wanted to banish him out of the base, but Sam was the best friend we had. Even better than Lennox and Epps. He had been on our side from the first second on and was someone whose loss I would never be able to afford.

The base was silent when the boy left, until Chromia asked, "Who was that?" Everyone shrugged. Nobody seemed to know. Then, another soldier took the word. "His name's Luke Roberts. His father, Richard, was former soldier and he had good contacts", he shrugged. "So he landed here." It was the one that had hit him on the back of his head. He was a bit bigger than the young soldier.

"I've never seen him here before." Epps murmured.

"That's why this was his first day. He was the sort of human that immediately joined Optimus' group when he heard from them." he replied. "I see." I said out loud, but no one gave me big attention. "Lennox, we can never have enough brave soldiers as him in our team. Finding those is really hard, would you please make Galloway understand that?" Now I had the full attention. Some yaws fell down for a second and got closed again quickly. For example Sideswipes. Lennox nodded and quickly jogged after the group. It was clearly, that under normal circumstances, I would have never said that, but if I got enough support like this, I could probably overcome the answers to Galloway's questions. My chance to hold my promise -except for Ratchet knowing about it- may still exist.

_**The girl's POV**_

The hot water flowed down my back and I laid my head in my neck, so that it also ran down my face. I could stay under here forever, I thought. But when I opened my eyes to grab the shampoo, I saw the doorknob turning. Slowly, trying not to make a noise. Well, that wouldn't work. The door was locked. Carefully, I got out of the shower, leaving the water flow, so that the intruder wouldn't notice that I got out, and put on a towel. With dripping-wet hair, I sneaked over to the door, quickly unlocked it and pushed it open, so that it smacked against the wall.

I saw a blur at the corner of my eyes and heard these odd clicking noises again, but when I turned around, there was nothing. This time, I wouldn't give up that easy. I wasn't paranoid okay? There was something! I looked around the room to search for a weapon, but the only thing I found was a hairbrush, a hairdryer and my bag. Damn! I really needed pepper spray or something like that!

One step by another and armed with a hairdryer without electricity, I made my way towards the end of my bed, avoiding the rims of it. Whatever it was could be under it. My hands started sweating and I tried to keep my towel from falling down, while I held the hairdryer with both hands like a mini baseball bat. The dim light didn't help my paranoia at all. It made my room look eerie and I was considering running out to escape the shadows in here, but then I tore myself together. It's probably just an animal or something like that. But how would it have moved the doorknob?

I didn't hear the slightest noise, and went on to the TV. I looked behind the black flat screen, but couldn't see anything except from a few wires. Then I opened each drawer in the cabinet next to it and lastly kneeled down and looked in the cupboard under it. Nothing.

Then I froze. Of course I was paranoid, there wasn't a single sound, except for my heartbeat that sounded like a horse trying gallop away. I held my breath for over the next thirty seconds and slowly turned my head to the side. Nothing again. Except for my bed. That thing must be under my bed!

I didn't stand up. Instead I slowly crawled into my beds direction, trying to make as little noise as possible, head lying on the floor. I tried to see if there was something under it, but the blanket was in the way. Sweat was running down my forehead. It was sure to me, that there was someone or something in my room that actually didn't belong here. Doorknobs don't turn just by themselves. I reached out for it and pulled it up with a small scream. Under the bed was... nothing. Suddenly, the clicking noises came back again, too fast for me to turn around. I heard something behind me and when I looked, the black blur jumped directly into my face, accompanied with a horrifying scream of mine.

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><p>Yay, my first real cliffhanger! I tried to make the last part a bit scary and if you just watched a horror movie, it is lat in the night, you're alone at home and listened to the right music in a dark room while reading the last part, I think it might even have been a bit scary. :D<p>

Please tell me whether you like it or not. Shall I continue or is this story too uninteresting? Tell me guys. ;)

I mean it!


	8. Injuries

_**Hello my dear readers. Regarding the fact that I got  so many votes *cough* the Poll will still be open for a few more weeks. But I'll try to upload this story as often as I can anyway. I really hope you guys like this chapter and I have to thank my new beta reader for improving it. Thanks FireRose Prime ;)**_

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><p><em><strong>Injuries<strong>_

"Guys, we have a situation!" Epps came running in, gun ready, dangerously serious face on. Lennox followed, looking nearly exactly the same. Ironhide transformed and came towards them. "What's wrong?" Suddenly, half of the soldiers ran into the base and the female voice out of the speakers echoed through the base. "Alert! All Autobots to duty! Decepticon incident in downtown!" Sideswipe cocked his head. "Which downtown?"

"I fear she means this downtown." Elita 1 whispered. I froze. That meant the Decepticons were close to our base. Too close. "Autobots, transform and roll out!" My fellow comrades followed my order and Lennox and Epps got into Ironhide. It had been really surprising to see Ironhide, of all bots, being the communicator with the soldiers. This was the first planet we had been on, where Ironhide tolerated any organic life form touching him, or even talked back. I had to smile internally at that thought. Ironhide had become much gentler since we had arrived on earth. He had gained more self-control. Yes, this planet was indeed a little wonder.

Unfortunately, that wonder got attacked by the Decepticons. Some soldiers took the lead, among them the young one. Luke Roberts. That was alright to me, because I hadn't gotten the coordinates yet. "How much do we know about the incident?", I asked no one special. Of course, I got an immediate answer from Lennox. "A woman got attacked by a 'robot bird' as the man had described who had come to the woman's help. The Decepticon apparently escaped, but still there is the question, what he wanted and if there are others waiting." If I had been in robot mode I'd have nodded to myself right now.

"Is the female injured?", Ratchet then asked. Sideswipe laughed through the comm. link.

"As far as we know, minor head injuries." Epps replied and I could hear him smirking through the comm.

But, as we drove around the next corner, I wasn't able to listen to them anymore. We were driving onto the parking lot of the Motel, where I had let _her _out. The darkest thoughts came into my mind. Apparently, the Decepticon had been Laserbeak. I'd have to tear the bird apart. He'd been too close to _her_.

__'PRIME!'___,_I then shouted at myself.__'You must not have thoughts like those! A Prime is supposed to be a role model! He is supposed to show others how to react in critical situations. And NOT how to think of revenge! That will not be tolerated! There were hundreds of humans in that building. It's rather unlikely, that Laserbeak injured ___her___!'__"And yet...", I whispered as Lennox got out and walked towards the motel.

**__Her__****POV, some time ago**

It hurt. The pain was so strong, but no matter how hard I tried to get rid of this thing, it only grabbed my face even tighter. I threw myself onto the ground and rolled around screaming, attempting to force it to fall off, but its claws drilled themselves into my skin. My towel loosened itself, but I was more busy with shouting for help and trying to get a grip on this giant metal thing in my face.

Suddenly, it felt as if my face got torn off, as the metal thing disappeared. No, not disappeared, it got thrown away, by someone. I couldn't see who it was, curse the blood that was flowing into my eyes. I started crying, but the blood wouldn't go away, there just came more. "Miss! Oh my god, your bleeding!" I felt the hands, gently taking the towel and laying it where it should be covering my body.

Then, the person, who obviously was a man, tried to wipe some of the blood away, but got into my injuries and I started whimpering. The hands disappeared and I heard footsteps walking away. _'___No! Don't leave me alone!'___,_I thought panicked. I heard the faucet getting turned on and off. Again steps, coming over to me. Then, cold. Wonderful, mitigating cold, in form of a wet towel, gently pressed on my face. I laid my head back and sighed at this wonderful feeling. My whole body shivered, as the towel went hot, too fast for my taste. My hands got grabbed and pressed on the towel, so that it would be held in place.

The steps disappeared and I heard the faucet another time getting turned on and off. I let the towel fall and saw the person kneeling in front of me. I didn't know him, had never seen him before. His green eyes were filled with sorrow and compassion, as he carefully cleaned my face and my injuries. I was still sobbing a bit, but my eyes were finally clean enough, so that I could look him into the eyes. I suddenly noticed, that we were both kneeling in front of each other, I had only a towel on and he was pretty handsome. A shame I already had someone.

"Are you alright?", the man in front of me asked. I nodded, because I already knew that answering him would only hurt. My whole face must be pretty defaced. He stood up and offered me a hand. "I'll call the police. Whatever that was, it has to be captured." The determined sound in his voice reminded me of Optimus Prime when he was on TV, holding one of his famous speeches. Not Orion Pax.

I didn't know by myself what it was, but I had the suspicion of it probably being a Decepticon. Though I had never seen one before, I had heard the warnings like every human on earth. But also like mostly every human, I had never had contact with one.

Gratefully, I accepted his hand and held my towel in place with the other one. Then I made my way to the bathroom. "Hey, Miss! Where are you going?" His gaze went soft as I answered with a brittle voice.

"I'd like to put on some clothes before the police come, if that is alright?"

He nodded understandingly. "Of course, Miss. I'll wait outside."

I closed the door after he was gone. A quick look in the mirror told me, that the metal thing had done a lot of damage to it, but nothing I wouldn't be able to fix on my own. The wounds weren't deep enough as if I'd have to sew them. But I tasted blood, so I assumed that one of the claws had gotten through my cheek. I splashed some cold water in my face and carefully rubbed it dry with the last towel in here. Then, I got into the clothes that already hung on the door.

Fortunately, my bag was packed and the room lay on the first floor, so I could easily escape through the window. I had no idea why, but my stomach told me that I had to leave and I always listened to my stomach.

Across the street, through that alley along that road... I paused as I heard many cars coming towards me. Normally, this street was empty, so I assumed that these were the police cars. I hid in the shadows of another blind alley, and gasped as I saw who was driving along the road. My red and blue truck. Orion. I wanted to run to him, stop him and tell him what happened. Wanted to see the sorrow in his eyes and feel the warm touch of his metal on my skin... Wait. Since when was I thinking like this?

I thought I already had that argument with him. If we made to much out of this, it could mean the end of us both.

Then, my decision got made for me, as other cars followed his. Under them, an _emergency vehicle. No, I couldn't go to Orion. Not while his team was with him._

* * *

><p><em><strong>Optimus' POV<strong>_

The man that already awaited us looked surprised as he didn't saw any police cars, but the whole Autobot squadron. "I guess that was the male who helped the female.", Ratchet surmised. Arcee chuckled.

"Gone? What do you mean with she's gone?", Epps asked the man aghast. The poor human just shrugged with a slightly panicked expression. "She said she just wanted to put on some clothes before you come. She'd only worn a towel. So I went outside to wait for her. As she didn't come down after a few minutes, I went back up to get her, but her room was completely empty."

Lennox frowned. "Didn't you say she was injured?"

The man nodded. "Her whole face was like torn apart by the thing. I stopped the bleeding and called you. How she managed to disappear, I don't know. She'd been in much pain." Lennox only nodded.

"Describe her. How did she look like?" Another soldier asked.

"Well, long blonde hair, still wet from the shower. She was small, didn't even reach my shoulder."

That was all I needed. With a loud growl, my engine revved and I speed of the parking lot. "What the...?!", was the last thing I heard from Epps.

**:: Optimus! Where are you going?::- Chromia**

She was following me. She shouldn't follow me.

**:: Chromia, stay with the others! That is an order!::-Optimus Prime**

The femme stopped and turned around. Fortunately, at least one who didn't ask too many questions.

I disabled my comm. link system and drove with maximum speed along the roads, searching for her. But she wouldn't come out. I knew that she was somewhere here. I just knew it! My spark was holding out for her. And now I knew it. I wasn't stupid and I wouldn't deny that I had wished for it to come different. Falling in love with a non-cybertronian creature was something unacceptable for the Prime. Was it? And wasn't she right? I highly doubted that Optimus Prime had fallen in love with a human. But what about Orion Pax?

I decided to stop searching for her and instead go where I knew I would find her. This would be the first place she would come, because I believe she knew that this was the first place I was going to.

And indeed, I caught her sitting on the load area of an old pick-up that was driving towards our desert. She didn't notice me, so I honked twice and immediately regretted it, because she jumped up and nearly fell onto the street, but could hold herself in the last second. Her eyes focused on me and I made a full braking. Her face was indeed nearly torn apart. Though there was no more blood coming out of her wounds, they still were glowing red and appeared to hurt. She knocked against the driver's cabin and the pick-up slowly came to a stand. As she was down, she ran towards me, once turned around and waved as the pick-up truck drove away. My engine was still on but I didn't move forward. _'___He will pay.'___,_was the sentence repeating itself in my processor. As she finally reached me and one of her hands stroke about my hood, I could merely talk. "He will pay, I promise.", I whispered and she looked up. "No. I don't want that."

"What?" I opened the door to show her she should get in.

"I don't want someone to get harmed, only because I stood in the way.", she said unfaltering as she got in.

I closed the door and strapped her tight. "But he hurt you!" As if I wanted to underline the sentence, I turned my rear view mirror so, that I could examine her wounds better. Her gaze fell to the ground as she whispered again "But I don't want you to kill it."

Slowly, I drove away, thinking of why she was like this. Didn't humans want revenge? When we had first arrived here, I had thought they were cruel, primitive organic creatures, but she didn't fit in that picture. She was different. "What do you mean, you were in its way?"

"I guess it was trapped in my room and just searched for a way out. I heard it and left the bathroom, searching for the origin of these weird sounds. I had nearly found it, as it had decided to attack me. A man had heard me and had come to help me. The thing flew away through the window.", she said, while her head tiredly fell against the door.

"I see. Did any medic take care of your injuries?" It would have been impolite to say that they looked bad. But as she answered "No. It's not that bad." I considered taking her to Ratchet. He knew of her after all. The only thing was, she didn't know that he knew.

"I still advice you to go. You could get an..." I looked the human word up on the World Wide Web. "...infection. I can drive you to the next hospital if you want to." She shook her head. "No. The government guys are already searching for me, aren't they? It wouldn't be a wise idea to get captured by them after you just ran away after a Decepticon incident."

"You are right with that, but I believe they won't be searching for you in the next city. " I didn't wait for her answer, I already was on my way. "Are you always that... leaderish?",she asked annoyed. "I'm sorry?"

"Leaderish! If someone always decides what to do without asking for other opinions. That's my word for that!" she burst out and slid down the seat. "Erm... okay?"

(-)

As she got out, still muttering about her discomfort, I made sure she really walked into the hospital. Fortunately, she did. But for being sure she didn't just escape out of any back door or window, I listened closer, making my audio amplifiers more sensitive that I could hear almost everything inside the hospital, what was, believe me, way too much. But as I listened closer, I was able to concentrate on one voice. "Erm... yes, I think I need an appointment." It wasn't hard to find the person she talked to.

"Oh darling! What happened to your face?" And then. "I need your name and your data." A short pause while I listened closer.

"Deina Rosalinda Sanchez."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Third POV, Autobot base<strong>_

"I can't believe he just let us alone with Galloway!" Arcee exclaimed angrily, crossing her arms over her chest plates.

"Galloway isn't here yet. He'll probably come back in time." Ratchet tried to calm her down. He knew where Optimus was. And he knew that it was rather unlikely that Optimus would return in time. The Autobot leader had disabled his comm. link so that it was impossible for them to reach him.

"We can still track his signal!" Chromia suggested. But Ironhide laid a hand on her shoulder. "It's Optimus. Can't we just trust him with what he does?" The two wheeler unfortunately understood that as an accusation. "I did NOT...!"

"We know, Chromia." Ratchet said. "But if we start searching for him now, we might do it out of mistrust. And we cannot allow ourselves any conflicts within our ranks. That would be a grave disadvantage in the war!"

Chromia went silent, just like everyone else. Angry glares got exchanged, most of them towards Ironhide and Ratchet. But everyone had to agree, to what Ratchet said. They couldn't afford giving the Decepticons another vulnerability where they could easily tear the group apart.

"I'll try to comm him again.", Sideswipe whispered and walked out of the base, transforming as he left it. He couldn't believe that Optimus was doing something beyond their knowledge. But if he did something, Sideswipe was sure, that his leader had his reasons to keep it as a secret from them. He stood completely on his side.

**::Optimus? Optimus do you copy? Please come in.::- Sideswipe**

He made his way through the city, not really searching for the tall bot, as his comrades surmised.

**::Optimus? I know you are out there. Please come in.::-Sideswipe**

He passed some fast food restaurants, a cinema, the Motel where the Decepticon incident had happened and turned into a small alley.

**::Optimus. Please respond.::-Sideswipe**

**::Sideswipe?::-Optimus Prime**

The Autobot soldier's mood immediately lifted to its normal state.

**::Optimus! Where have you been? Galloway is coming soon.::-Sideswipe**

**::I'm on my way Sideswipe.::-Optimus Prime**

(-)

"Optimus!" Elita 1 exclaimed, rolling over to the robot six times large than she.

"Where have you been?" Arcee asked, doing the same as her sister. The Autobot leader looked down at the two femmes who barely reached his knees. Then he looked up at Ratchet. "We need to talk."

The medic nodded and showed the Prime he should follow him. Arcee, Chromia and Elita 1 watched them both dumbfounded.

"It was her, wasn't it?", Ratchet asked, his voice full of sorrow. Optimus nodded. "But I do not know why. That is exactly why I wanted to talk to you. No one except from us knows about her. The Decepticons somehow must have found out..."

Ratchet interrupted him. "My lips were and are still sealed, Optimus. But what if it was just an accident?"

The Prime frowned. "She had said that also. But I do not believe in accidents when it comes to Megatron and his servants." He ignored the gaze his medical officer gave him. Though they had been so close for such a long time, they appeared to be moving away from each other. Ratchet had known Orion Pax. He had been there as out of Orion had become Optimus Prime and Optimus had always hoped he would still be there when the next Prime was chosen.

"You'll have to tell them."

"I know, Ratchet. But I can't! She will...", The Prime started, but got interrupted by his old friend.

" ...understand. Believe me Optimus. Chromia and the others would only become more suspicious. And I have no doubts that Sideswipe will too. You know as well as I do, Optimus, that you'll have to tell them one day anyway!"

He nodded. "Very well. If you believe that's best, than I think I'll have to." said Orion Pax.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Okay, this was the chapter. I really hope you guys liked it and please, please Review. No matter in what language and no matter how much you write. You may also PM me if you wish to. But if I don't know whether you guys like it, I won't be uploading this story so often. <strong>_

_**So I hope you guys enjoyed it :)**_


	9. Gone

_******Hey guys, here's the next chapter!**_

_**Thanks again to FireRose Prime for Betaing it :D**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Gone<strong>_

It didn't hurt anymore. The pain-killers had helped pretty well and I had been allowed to leave the hospital right after the medication. Fortunately, the doctors had accepted that I didn't want to talk about how my injuries had happened and they had left it with a mere "Take better care of yourself." Orion had been waiting for me outside. He, however, had been strange. Silent. Not a single word was heard from the tall robot as he had brought me to the next city and to a much larger motel than before.

I didn't say goodbye. I just kissed the Autobot insignia on his steering wheel and left. He had been waiting for me to go into the building and then, open a window as I had gotten a room, to show him that I was safe. Then he had left too. Without a word.

I didn't know what was wrong with him. Orion had never been like this before. Maybe, one of his comrades had sent him a message because he had just went away without telling them why? Maybe he was sad because it probably looked as if I was on the side of the Decepticons, because I simply didn't want him to get hurt? Who knew? I didn't.

I made sure that all windows and doors were locked after I had hit every electronic device in this room twice, proofing whether they were Decepticons or not. Of course they weren't. Why would they?

"Phew. I guess I'm getting paranoid again." I whispered to myself and walked into the bathroom. I didn't want to take a shower, because I was afraid I might not hear if another intruder came into my room, no matter out of what reason. So I let hot water flow into the bathtub and got a book out of my bag, which I had bought a few days earlier in one of the city's second hand shops. I just loved second hand shops; them and flea markets. You could find the most wonderful riches there.

While reading page after page of one of those mawkish novels which I actually hated, I started imagining that the main figure, a young man in his mid-twentieth, was Orion. The man's love for freedom and life was comparable to his, though Orion would never act like this man. He was by far too selfless and solicitous for the well-being of others as if I could completely compare his personality with the young man's, who had no ambition in helping others with giving away his own life.

It took me more than a good hundred pages to notice that I was laying in my bath and had been for about two hours by now. Though I had to admit that this book was just stupid. The only thing that let me keep on reading it was the ability of my imagination to form Orion out of the main figure. I let the book accidentally fall into the tub and the water splashed onto the ground as I had my cognizance.

"I love him." I whispered. It hit me so hard, that I would probably have fallen to the ground if I hadn't already been lying. My gaze was nailed onto the ceiling, the book in the water forgotten as I mentally got through the last months again. Indeed, I had kissed him and I liked the way he looked at me. I had gotten... attracted by him. The wrong warmth of his metal skin and the real warmth of the strong armor above his heart.

"Shit! I LOVE HIM!" I exclaimed and nearly fell out of the tub as I hastily stood up to get my clothes on. Why did these things have to be so slippery?

"What is wrong about that?" I fished the book out of the tub.

"Well, probably the fact that he's a _giant alien robot?!_" I let the water flow out of the tub.

"And?!" Automatically, I laid the book on the radiator, not really believing it could be saved somehow.

"We're so gonna be dead if public finds out about that! Orion _and _I! And if I simply regard the past, then I'll have enough reasons!"

I let myself fall against the wall opposite the TV and sank it down, burying my face in my hands. A hysterical laugh escaped me and tears started flowing down my face. "I'm not stupid! I don't love him! I probably have a small crush on him, but I don't love him. Why would I love him? He's a robot! A giant, heavily armed, strong, gentle, selfless, protective, cute, responsible, prudent... robot. FUCK!" My hand hollered onto the ground and I screamed wordless. What was wrong on falling in love with another intelligent creature from outer space if I'd be forgetting my past as I already had decided to when I had first heard about _his _past? Nothing. Only that public wouldn't like that. And if public didn't like it, it was wrong.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Optimus Prime's POV<strong>_

"No! Listen, I don't have to go there! I'd have told you if I had to, you know that!" Sam was nearly begging his love but she didn't even give him a glance. I regretted coming here. Carly had begun hating us, because we took Sam from her more and more. Because we needed him for showing the government that we could live in trust with them if they only trusted us like Sam did! But that meant Sam had to come with us and was separated from Carly for much longer. He's not getting money for helping us after all, so in Carly's point of view, we were taking from Sam without giving anything back, which was, in most ways, right.

"Oh yes? And then why is _he _standing here?" She stood accusingly in the door frame, only a thin robe on. It was still early in the morning; they might have just gotten up. Sam didn't understand until his gaze fell on me. His mouth formed an 'o' and he quickly took his future mate's hand. "I promise you they won't need me at the base. They would've told me earlier, am I right Optimus?" He didn't look at me, he was staring at the blonde female with such a loving and desperate expression, that I knew for a moment, losing her would mean his death.

"I can assure you, Carly that I only want to talk to him for a few minutes." I said but her gaze was still locked onto the ground. Then she nodded, swallowed and quickly disappeared through the door.

"Carly...!" Sam called out after her, but let go. With an exhausted sigh he let his head slam against the wall, his fist followed right next to it.

"I am truly sorry about causing another argument between you two." I started.

My friend smiled, a fist clenched hand still against the wall. "It's not like you didn't try to keep my social life alive, Optimus. I know you tried and I also know that you still try to keep my family out of this war as much as possible, but at some points, not even you guys can do anything against it. Carly simply has her problems with... making peace with the thought that I won't be able to give her the life she wanted. That's all."

The garage was small, really small, but I felt the strong urge to transform and lay a hand on his shoulder. Unfortunately, my size made that impossible, without damaging Bumblebee's garage. Sam was important to me; more important than the soldiers or any other person at NEST could ever be which was why I came to _him _first. But it didn't feel like the right moment yet to tell him about _her_.

"Is that what bothers Bumblebee?" I suddenly asked.

"Excuse me?"

Of course I had noticed Bumblebee's behavior. When he had stood up against Sideswipe. That just has not been Bumblebee. Not in the least. I was their leader, so it was logical I worried about my youngest soldier. "He's been quite aggressive the last couple of days. Do you know anything about that?"

Sam lifted his head from the wall. "Yes. Yes, I guess I know why." He came down the stairs towards me and let himself fall to the ground next to me, so that his whole body weight was balanced on his bunions. "Carly and I have planned a... trip to Europe, Australia or... something like that." He coughed. "She doesn't want Bee to come with us so... it's supposed to take some weeks and Bee doesn't like the idea of staying without me. He said he understood, but... I know he doesn't." Sam was blinking every five seconds as if he fought to stay awake.

"I'm sorry." I didn't know anything else to say.

"No problem, really." he lifted himself up. "So, why are you here? Or was it just because of Bee?"

I didn't look forward telling Ironhide, Sideswipe or any of the others about her, but Sam would understand. I trusted him. "Do you still remember the incident with Sideways?" Sam was an important member of our team and as that was always immediately informed about what was going on, so he certainly knew what I was talking about. He nodded.

"The reason why we were able to offline him so easy without any problems was that he had gotten blinded, by a knife in his optic." Sam frowned. He knew this was going serious. "The knife neither came from one of us, nor from a NEST soldier." He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at me expectant.

When I didn't continue, he asked, "From whom did it come?"

"A human. A young female to be exact." He nodded again. "What is with her?"

"I... No one saw her from then on for months. She wasn't even recorded in the government database." I sighed.

"Probably a pretender?" Sam surmised.

"I met her again in a...an uninhabited area." I somehow didn't even want Sam to know of the desert. It was _ours_. Not everyone's. "But that was the last time. Until one day, an energon signal suddenly appeared right where Sideways had gotten terminated! I followed it, alone." Sam started grinning and shook his head in disbelief.

"And you guys always say I do stupid things." he muttered.

"_I _found her. She was different from others humans... you know? She didn't want to tell me her name, or anything else about her, but then we started meeting once a week." Sam's yaw fell down, he was guessing where this went to.

"I told her about me, the past, my team and after she heard that, she started calling me Orion instead of Optimus." Sam buried his face in his hands. "Oh, please tell me you're just joking!"

"We kissed." Sam sighed noisily. "I always brought her to a motel near the base, so that I knew she was safe..."

"Wait, the motel with the 'Con incident?", he suddenly asked, looking up with eyes widened in an urgent manner. "Yes.", I answered. My voice was rough and out of some reason, I wasn't able to control it as usual. Probably I should pay Ratchet a visit, since my last one was so many years ago.

"Laserbeak attacked her. He got away, leaving her back heavily injured. I don't know why, but she fled from us and I went out to search her, without telling the others. They... I believe they won't trust me for much longer if I don't tell them." I stopped. This was enough... I guessed.

"So, you fell in love with a human?" Sam whispered. I didn't answer.

"You know government's not gonna be happy 'bout that, don't you?" No answer.

"Prime, you can't just... It's nearly... Oh you know what? Just don't mind what they say! I never minded and neither should you! It's your right Optimus! And it's not like you have to tell them about her?" And then he smiled, his typical Sam smile. The smile that made me trust him more than I trusted most of my fellow Autobots. "Thank you, Sam."

(-)

"_Are you kidding me?_" That was Bumblebee.

"You aren't serious, are you?" Arcee.

"Woah woah woah woah wait! Prime, really?" Apparently Ironhide.

"That was... unexpected." And Sideswipe.

"A' least there won' be no awkward convuhsation with huh' parnts', ya know?", Jazz said in my mind and I imagined my first lieutenant standing right next to Bumblebee and Ironhide, servo lifted to offer a high five, getting raised optic ridges and annoyed sighs from the three sisters. I had to confess, my spark hurt at the thought of never seeing him again.

Ratchet didn't say anything. He just stood there and watched me. I knew that glance, but still couldn't tell what it meant. He didn't use it often.

Skids and Mudflap hadn't been reachable. They were sent to the spacecraft to assist the Wreckers after they had annoyed Galloway too much. And those two really wouldn't be able to keep this secret, so in some way, I was glad about their absence.

I waited some more, until everyone was ready and looked at me with wide optics. Obviously awaiting something. Probably why I told them that now.

"The injured women in the motel..."

"...was her!" Chromia nearly screamed, a now shocked expression on her face. Elita 1 covered her mouth with her hands and Arcee looked up at me with even wider optics. "That was why you had to leave so fast!" she exclaimed as Chromia rolled closer. "Oh, I shouldn't have delayed you! I'm so sorry!" If the war and their hard training hadn't existed, I believe they would have hugged me.

"Why didn't you tell us before?" Sideswipe asked and Bumblebee looked up at me with big, disappointed optics. "It's not like we would've judged you because of that."

"Yeah, no one knows where the love takes you to. If Primus wanted it like that, it has to have a reason." I smiled at my weapon expert. Earth definitely made him softer. Not that I didn't like that. Not at all, I truly enjoyed seeing him like this. Bumblebee had Sam's family, Ironhide had Lennox'.

"I thought you might lose your trust in me if I keep this secret from you any longer." I admitted. My fellow comrades didn't answer. Most of them let their gazes fall to the ground. I had been right.

Bumblebee didn't look to the ground. He had already forgiven me again. "_When will we meet her?_" he asked excitedly, though it was complicated for him, to cut the words from different people into one phrase through the radio, he got more skilled in it. That question seemed to break the "awkward car silence" as she'd have called it.

"Yeah, when? I don't wanna be the last one to meet the Prime's mate." I frowned at Sideswipe's statement. Did it appear to them as if she was my mate? I should probably clarify that.

"She is not my..."

"We know Prime. Sideswipe's just joking." Ironhide reassured me, what just caused me to feel like an idiot. Fascinating. With time I started noticing the differences between Optimus Prime and Orion Pax.

"But I'd like to meet her too." he then added. Arcee, Chromia and Elita 1 looked up to me and nodded. Ratchet just smirked and crossed his servos over his chest armor. He won and he knew it. His gaze seemed to say _'I told you so!'_

"Alright then. The sun will be going down in approximately two hours and twenty three minutes. I will be bringing you to her then."

"Wait, Optimus!" Elita 1 exclaimed as I just wanted to go. "Yes?"

"We don't even know her name!"

I grinned. "Just as I." '_...should.' _my mind added with a silent smirk.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Her POV<strong>_

"Who says I can't just change my plans? I mean it's my life after all?"

The pointer on the small clock right above the TV was getting dangerously close to the six. That was when I'd have to go if I still wanted to be before him at our desert. But I still needed time to decide what was right and what was not!

"How can I possibly make such an important decision in thirty-six minutes? Pro and con list?"

"Hmm, let's think."

"Pro: He's nice, really nice. Why did he have to turn out to be so nice? TV Prime's always been so cold and serious and..."

"Okay, Con: He's got two faces! Optimus Prime and... Orion. How can I life with him if I love the one and hate the other?"

"Next Con: He's from outer space. An alien to be exact. That between us could never work in a more... intimate way. He's by far too... large. And out of metal. And a robot. And he can transform into a truck, that's actually pretty cool... Wait, is that pro or contra? Well, let's just leave it out."

"Pro: I love him, well I love Orion. And not just like I got a crush on him, I really do. And if he feels the same, than it's a pretty good pro argument. But if he doesn't he'd probably laugh at me if I'd tell him..."

"Next pro argument: Orion would never ever laugh at me. He's by far too polite to do something like that. And if he didn't like me, he wouldn't have worried so much about me, would he? But he lost so many comrades in these many years -maaaany years! - of war, that he's probably just not able to loose someone else... Wait, that's Optimus Prime! Stay focused!"

"Con: If he's been fighting in a war for so long, it means that he's reeeally old! Not like I didn't like old people, I respect them, but having an affair with one is just... gross. Well, if you don't regard the fact that having an affair with a giant alien robot is even worse. But, this isn't really a contra argument, because one is always as old as one feels, right? And converted into the life of a human, he can't be much older than forty, can he?"

"Another Con: He's able to kill and I never liked killing. That's why I'm vegetarian!"

"Pro: He'd never kill out of fun. He's got some sort of weird sense for the innocent and he can be so gentle..."

"Yet another pro argument: He understands me and, though in a weird way, I understand him too. But, con: He didn't seem to care about the victims of mission city. He never lost a word about that. Not even at one of the already six remembrances."

I sighed. I'd never be able to fully trust him, would I? But I wanted! I wanted so badly to have someone to trust! Hmm... I'd already given him a chance to let him earn my trust, didn't I? He always came back to me, as I had wanted him to, but what was with the secret? He had promised to keep this between us a secret. If he did, should I be able to trust him then? I guessed yes. I'd probably also be able to forgive Optimus Prime and the other Autobots for what they've done. I could start again, make a new beginning and forget the past. Maybe, I could stop searching for an aim? Maybe I had already found my place here? Maybe my place was with Orion? But didn't every teenage girl think like that if they had a crush on somebody? Didn't they always say it was more than that? That it was love and would stay like that forever? One day, she'd get pregnant and he'd run away from the responsibility, leaving her behind without a hand to hold, a place to stay and a way to continue her life without problems? The baby would either grow up in a world without a father or without any parents or it wouldn't even grow up anyway because the mother just couldn't handle such a situation. Wasn't that exactly the reason why I was still single? Why I had never even thought about children and a wedding and a future with a man? A dog, yes. Probably also a rabbit if I got a flat somewhere and a work. If my wanderlust finally stopped. But a man? Why now? Why an alien? Or the best question, why a robot? _'Hey, I want to marry a giant alien robot from the planet Cybertron that fought a war against the evil Decepticons and is the leader of the Autobots. Do you have a church he'd fit in?' _Yay. I was so looking forward to the churchman's face.

My hands started to shiver and suddenly, I started to cry soundlessly. Don't ask me why. Probably because I just didn't know what to do. Because on one side I wanted to be with Orion, but on the other side, couldn't imagine anything worse. Then again, if I wanted to be with him, really with him, I'd have to lie to him and that forever. I couldn't do that, could I? What was a relationship based on a lie as terrible as mine? But if I told him, who knew what he'd do?

"Do it. Do it not. Do it. Do it not." I whispered silently as I stroke with my hand along the planks that made the floor. I felt more stupid by doing that as I thought I would.

"Why the heck not?" I then exclaimed, taking my bag and standing up. '_Don't you dare be a coward! He's Orion. He'll keep your secret, he'll trust you, you'll be able to trust him and everything's gonna be alright!'_As always, I trusted my stomach, which now was on the side of this small voice that always interrupted my thoughts. I hoped it was right. I really did.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Third POV, sunset, the desert<strong>_

Only a small shadow made the human female visible. She was hiding herself behind the tree and watched the sunset's colors with awe. Her gold blonde hair was braided over her right shoulder and her fingers nervously played with the clasp of her bag. It was getting colder with time, but she didn't seem to freeze in her thin blouse. She was waiting. Waiting and hoping for her beloved to come and take her fears away.

"Where did you say is it again, Prime?" a voice asked a few miles north from the girl.

"I didn't say anything, Chromia."

The red and blue Peterbilt truck led the seven other vehicles straight to the desert. He didn't want to hide this secret from his fellow Autobots, but he also didn't feel good with telling them. But who knew? Maybe Ratchet was right and she would appreciate the new freedom of their relationship. Or what it might one day probably be.

There was no doubt that she was important to Orion and the other Autobots knew that. Mostly Bumblebee felt for his leader, he knew the fear to loose someone of this race. Though the humans were so small, they made their way into ones spark rather quickly. Even Ironhide could confirm that.

"Autobots, stay here until I call you. I'm going to have to explain this first.", the Autobot leader said and Ratchet could hear the uncertainty out of his voice. He transformed and left his fellow Autobots behind on the empty road which appeared to go on straight ahead for miles over miles.

The ground shivered as the giant robot made his way towards the small tree, whirling up the sand on the ground beneath and around him. He could hear her breath and saw some streaks of her hair treasonable fly right next to the tree, to tell him where she hid. Not that he hadn't known before, there weren't many more possibilities to hide after all.

He knelt down and waited, hearing her slight giggle shortly before she left her hiding place in the shadow of the tree. "Orion Pax, punctual as always." Her eyes in which he had already lost himself uncountable times were locked onto him as she stepped closer and laid a hand on the knee of his, which touched the ground. Then again, he got reminded of how tiny she actually was and internally thanked Primus that he was there to protect such a fragile and delicate sentient being.

He smiled. The touch of her skin always felt good and this time encouraging. "I-I need to tell you something." Orion saw the shadow that shortly darkened the glowing blue of her eyes, but it was already gone before he could even start worrying about it.

"Yes, what is it, Orion?" The cheerful and calm tone in her voice made him question the sight of the shadow, so he just went on.

"You remember what we talked about? How the public would react when they found out about us?" he started, his voice already getting rough.

"They'd hunt us both down because it wouldn't be right in their sight of how things are supposed to be. Not right in their world view.", she answered and Orion feared she had no clue what this was going to. If she had, would she already have made him notice that she knew? Or would she just behave like she had no clue, just as she did now?

Optimus Prime was estimating the situation, whether it was wise to tell her the truth and introduce her to his soldiers, but lying appeared to be a much safer option if he wanted to keep her trust in him. Orion Pax on the other side was completely lost in the depth of her eyes what reminded him of something she had ones said to him while looking him in his'. _Eyes are the mirrors to one's soul. _And if it truly was like that, then her soul was beautiful and pure. Optimus Prime shared his thoughts, but still was estimating. Hadn't the other part of him noticed the shadow in her eyes? The small bit of presentiment and mistrust?

But yet again, in her presence, Optimus Prime couldn't win. Not even against his old self. "I told you about Ratchet, didn't I? My medical officer?"

**::Prime, how long exactly will that take? Lennox needs me... back at base I mean.::- Ironhide**

Of course back at base, even Ironhide was lying to him now. Though they all already knew that he was most likely spending time with Lennox family and his daughter Annabelle, who admired Ironhide more than anything else. He was her idol and that made Ironhide more proud than any victory in history could ever do. It hurt the Prime to see him lying to them and he knew it'd hurt her to see him lying to her like that too.

"Yes, I remember." The scars on her face were still red and didn't really look much different from yesterday, but fortunately, if her body language was interpreted right, they didn't hurt anymore. She had skillfully braided her hair over her shoulder, so that some streaks still covered her face and the scars got less conspicuous. The sun was already gone and had turned the sky into a light mixture of green and purple. The temperature was falling rapidly and the sensitive little hairs on her skin rose as to show that she was freezing. Her body was only protected by a thin blouse, the T-shirt she wore under it and a long skirt, which was obviously not helping her body to keep its temperature.

Orion carefully stroke over her cheek with his forefinger. "He saw us together." The young female closed her eyes and laid a hand onto the Primes finger, which was still caressing her cheek just like she normally used to do with his, showing him to stop. Now the hurt in her gaze was obvious. "Ratchet is clever, he knew what was going on. He didn't tell anyone.", Orion tried to explain while her whole body tensed.

"Fine." she whispered and the way she tried to avoid looking him in the eyes, told him that she was near the tears.

"No, please don't. Please." he whispered back, trying to keep her from crying. She nodded and tried to smile for short but stopped again, closing her eyes and clenching her hands to fists.

As if it wasn't enough, the sound of engines was heard and the timing couldn't be worse as Ironhide followed by Sideswipe, Ratchet, Bumblebee and the three femmes approached. '_No! Not now!',_the Prime desperately thought and his processor tried to figure a way out to get them to leave them alone without her noticing it. Too late, unfortunately.

The girl looked up and the shock and hurt was written all over her face. "And Ratchet was the only one, you say?" she pressed out, her voice oddly high.

Then, they all transformed and came walking towards them. Orion let his head roll to the side and stood up, giving Ironhide a stunned look. They didn't seem to understand what was going on, as she slowly shook her head in disbelief. Bumblebee quickly took the lead, obviously happy to meet her. There was no doubt that he was about to introduce them. Sideswipe stood right next to him and only Ratchet appeared to have noticed why the Prime was so disconcerted.

"Only Ratchet, you say?" she now practically screamed and took a step back, startling Bumblebee. Optimus Prime quickly placed himself in front of his soldiers, tried to shield them from her sight.

"They know it. We don't have to hide from them, now. I couldn't hide from them, you understand? I just couldn't keep this secret from them. Not from them." Orion tried to explain.

Suddenly, her eyes seemed to close from the outside. As if a cover was laid over the depth inside them. They stopped glowing, instead they looked... dead. "You promised me.", she whispered.

"No, no listen! I tried to..." he started but she didn't seem to hear him. "You _promised _me." she said now a bit louder. "I did, I know. But they are..."

"YOU _PROMISED _ME!" she then suddenly screamed and the Prime fell silent. As did Bumblebee, Sideswipe and the others, suddenly aware of what was really going on.

"Please, I did never intend in hurting you... I... I... Please don't!", he tried pathetically, as she turned around. "No one else will ever find out about us! Please, trust me. Trust them!" He took a step forward after her.

"Whom can I trust if I can't even trust you, Optimus Prime?", she said with such bitterness in her voice, that the Prime knew nothing to reply. But the statement that she couldn't trust him anymore wasn't what was internally tearing him apart. It was the fact, that she had called him Optimus Prime instead of Orion Pax. The fact that she didn't believe that the old Orion existed anymore, the one who wasn't living for preventing others from death. The one who was living out of his lust for life.

Without doing anything against it, he let her walk away. '_She will come back. She will come back.'_, the Prime told himself again and again, but in the end, it was only Orion Pax, too young and inexperienced to understand how betrayed the young femme felt. Bumblebee wanted to go after her, but the Autobot leader tiredly laid a hand on his chest and shook his head as he followed her walking away with his optics. He knew, Orion would have run after her if Optimus hadn't held him back.

The Prime was still standing in the dark after hours, watching the spot in the distance where she had disappeared, as if he was hoping she'd come back and forgive him for all the mistakes he had done; but in the end, even he had to recognize that she wouldn't come back.

Ratchet sent Bumblebee, Ironhide, Sideswipe and the three femmes back to base. At least the medical officer saw how bad the internal conflict was that the Prime was in, though he didn't knew what said conflict was about.

"So, that didn't go as good as it was supposed to, did it?", Sideswipe asked.

"_She fucking hates me. I tried so hard but she tore my feelings like I had none._", Bumblebee replied over radio, what surprised most likely everyone, because they'd never seen him so pissed before.

Ratchet gave the young scout a dent with his wrench on the roof as he didn't speed off soon enough in the medic's opinion. As they had fled from the furious medic, he sighed and turned back to the Prime. "Optimus, I am sorry about what happened. Just give her some time, she'll understand."

But the Prime didn't listen to him. He didn't speak a word. Not even as they returned to base and Epps wanted to know what happened and why Bumblebee hadn't even come to base to tell he'd be staying with Sam overnight. The Prime didn't transform. He simply placed himself where he was always recharging and Ironhide had the odd feeling that this wasn't one of his silent treatments. This was something that no one should disturb, so he decided to keep Galloway and the others as far away from him as possible which was hard during the next day. But then, just as if nothing had happened the day before, the Prime made his way out of the base to the desert, leaving behind a completely stunned Autobot squadron.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Optimus Prime's POV<strong>_

I spent hours waiting in our desert, watching her tree's colors changing as the sun set. How it changed from light, to dark brown. Then to a light gray and then to a barely recognizable black shadow. But even as the stars already were adorning the sky, she didn't come. Neither did she come the other day, or the one after that.

For three weeks, I came here every day, no matter what the others told me. No matter how much they disagreed or though I was simply torturing myself with this. I always came, waited and hoped and prayed to Primus she'd return to me. But as she had been gone for a whole month, her tree, suddenly, was dead. It had fallen over, caused by a storm and too little water. Its strength hadn't been able to keep it in place.

As I saw the dead tree lying on the dusty ground, some of its branches drilled into the sand, some lying next to it, broken, I knew that she would never return to me. That she was gone.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Hope you guys enjoyed it, Please R&amp;R :D<em>**


	10. Decepticon sightings I

_**Alright, I'm back! **_

_**I actually made a really long chapter but my beta (thanks Sunstreaker's Squishy *wave*) suggested to split it up. The next chapter shall be coming this weekend :D**_

_**I actually could have left it at that... but I didn't! **_

_**So have fun reading!**_

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><p><em><strong>Decepticon Sightings<strong>_

_**Optimus's POV**_

"...and like every time, the government has to pay for it! Prime, how long is it supposed to go on like this? I thought these Decepticons vanished?!"

I suppressed a sigh, noticing that I could use some recharge time right now. I hadn't refueled in a few days either. Where was the time? It seemed as if the days were running away from me. Me, who had been treated like Primus himself back on Cybertron at time, wasn't even able to catch up with the time running past. Surprising to others, I'm not always the immortal one.

Director Galloway stood in front of me, leaning dangerously over the railing of the platform. His glasses looked like they were about to fall and Epps, standing next to him, looked like he was waiting for them to do so. We all needed some type of change, something new to happen. There had been more than enough routine in the past few month. Like myself, we are all getting restless.

"The Decepticons did not _vanish_!", Ironhide exclaimed, powering up his cannons with rage. Chromia laid a hand on one of them and my weapon specialist eased, looking her deep in the optics. I was grateful to Primus that the two had finally found each other, although seeing them made my spark ache. But who was I to question my fate?

"Ironhide is right. Although the past month have led to the conclusion that Megatron's forces are scattered across the stars without possibility of returning to their leader, it appears that there are more still existent on this world than we thought. However, I believe a regrouping of those trapped upon this world is inevitable. Your kind would be wise not to question our intentions. That might lead to mistrust from both sides."

Lennox looked up at me, almost simultaneously with Epps and Luke Roberts, who had, of course, gotten his job back. The young soldier looked a little horrified, on the contrary to Epps who sent glare after glare towards Galloway. Galloway himself looked merely impressed. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back to get a better look at me.

"Was that a threat?" He didn't flinch as I came closer, the ground shivering with each of my steps. I leaned down, so that we were nearly optic-to-eye, rested my hands on both sides of him on the railing and looked deeply into his dull blue eyes.

"_Only if ya take it as one!",_Jazz barked in the back of my processor. I wasn't in the least tempted to repeat his words. Over the years on Earth, I had learned that it was wrong to offend the humans who considered themselves as "bigwigs". It would only cause more harm than good.

"I believe that, what he means is: we must trust each other. We are working together, not against each other, after all.", Lennox tried, causing Galloway to roll with his eyes. He knew very well that this was going to be a long day.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Her POV<strong>_

"I had a way then, losing it all on my own...", I hummed, shivering at the next burst of cold air escaping the broken air conditioner. My fingers played with my braided hair while I watched the people randomly walking through the diner.

"...I had a heart then, but the queen has been overthrown..." The book, corrugated from the time when it had fallen into the bathtub, laid on my lap. Somehow, I couldn't let go of it.

"... And I'm not sleeping now, the dark is too hard to beat ..." I took a sip from the coffee I had ordered about half an hour ago. It was already getting colder. Like everything else around me.

"... And I'm not keeping now, the strength I need to push me..." I stuffed my bag with the book and took some money out of my jeans pocket, laying it on the table.

"... You show the lights that stop me turn to stone… You shine it when I'm alone…" For a second, I stopped at the window leading to the door outside of the diner. Half of the parking lot was filled and one of the cars woke my attention.

"... And so I'll tell myself that I'll be strong and dreaming when they're gone..." My feet carry me outside towards the light blue Peterbilt truck. His model, but not his paintjob. His flashlights went on as the trucker came towards it, having finished his break.

"...'Cause they're calling, calling, calling me home, calling, calling, calling me home..." The trucker nodded towards me as he entered the truck and started its engines. They didn't sound like his either.

"...You showed the lights that stopped me from turning into stone, you shined them when I was alone..." I couldn't do anything else, but stand there, watching him as he left the parking lot. My heart ached, cried out his name and squirmed under my ribs, in my body, this cruel prison keeping it from returning to the one it belonged to. The truck rolled towards the street, stopped and waited for an opportunity to pull out into the flow of traffic.

My heart stopped beating, I stopped breathing and my heart burst with adrenaline, commanding my legs to move run, faster and faster. My bag fell to the ground as I ran towards the truck, shouting and waving with my arms. Without even wasting a single look at it, I left my past and my memories behind: my secrets, my lies, and my darkest hours.

The truck stopped and the driver stepped out, looking at me confused. "Ma'am, can I help ya?" He looked like a typical trucker: beard, round belly, probably in his mid fifties. I had experiences with hitchhiking, but the pepper spray was in my bag and my stubborn heart wouldn't let me run back to get my bag.

"Where is your destination, sir?" I panted heavily, but tried to look strong. "Detroit, ma'am. Why?" He replied.

"Would you mind giving me a lift?" He shook his head and disappeared in the driver's cabin. "Jump in."

Even the inside looked like his. I leaned back in the seat, watching the trucker as he drove onto the highway.

"Name's Walter. Walter Willis.", he said, not taking his eyes from the street. "Ya know that young ladies like you shouldn' be hitchhikin', eh? There are pretty creepy guys out there, ya know?"

"Why, I hope you are not one of them, are you?",I replied, deciding for a strong, British accent. He did not need to know who I was.

"Naah. I ain't doin' those things. Have a wife an two children. Goin ta be grandpa soon, ya know? Meh little Alicia's married with this wimp of a man, Leonard Maron, but, eh, what can ya do? At least he'll be a good father, I hope. An you? Goin ta stab meh while I'm sleepin an takin ovuh the cargo?" Walter gave me a bright smile, showing what were probably dentures. I liked him. He seemed to be a good soul.

"I am Eve Heatherwick, from Ipswich. I've visited a friend in Columbia, which didn't really end that well, but I'm not going to stab you.", I said with a slight grin. My heart was pounding, though I didn't know why. Maybe it was just this feeling of safety the truck gave me.

"Well, well, Eve. Where d'ya want the ole Walter ta let ya out?" I leaned back, letting myself relax in the seat cushions. Unfortunately, they didn't smell like him...

"I'll decide that spontaneously."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Optimus POV<strong>_

_CLANG! _Within the fraction of a second I transformed, weapons were ready to shoot, battle mask shielding my face, my body in a fighting position. Millenia of war had prepared me to be alarmed at any sign of any threat. Though I did not stay like this for long. After another second of looking for the enemy, I allowed myself to relax, putting my weapons back into my subspace, just like my battle mask.

"Optimus, we have a situation." Ironhide said next to me. Ah, he had been the one hitting me.

"Decepticons are attacking a village in the east. We won't be able to get there in time, but I'll put the woman who contacted us on your comm. link.", Lennox said while he strapped on his gear. No second later, a new link got opened. I could hear the frantic screams of humans mixed with shots in the background. Immediately, I jumped into the role of the Autobot leader.

"Ma'am, this is Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots! How many Decepticons are in sight?", I asked, sounding as calm and reassuring as possible, while I made my way over to the jet. Static appeared on the other end, the result of an EMP generator used in the distance.

"Orion?!" I froze. Epps walked into the back of my foot and complained loudly about how hard my armor was. I couldn't reveal myself for knowing her.

"Are you safe?" I had to at least know the answer for that. Static filled the link before she replied.

"Not really. I hid, but they're bombarding the whole area! I can't exactly tell how many there are. Two, three, maybe more..." She was breathing heavily. She was probably injured! I had to get to her as fast as I could!

"Keep in the shadows and get away from them as far as you can! Did you understand me?" Static. The link broke off and I stiffened. Ironhide would have cursed and probably fired around at a few of the military vehicles, but I was a Prime. I had to keep my emotions in check.

Like the others, I transformed and drove into the jet, waiting for the soldiers to lay one of the big nets over my alt. form. While Ironhide complained about the netting procedure, the others remained compliant.

How quickly this morning had turned out to be another day of tragedy with another battle with already so many losses. They had not told me yet, but I could see in the soldiers' eyes that there were already victims of their kind. Again, the time was running, mocking and teasing me for not being able to catch up with it.

"We'll be landing in about half an hour, Prime. It won't take that long.", Epps said, preparing his gear and ammunition.

_Still too long..._, a voice in my processor repeated over and over again, finally, the soldiers were standing up after the "ready" signal went off.

"Prime, we'll have to jump. It's the fastest way down!", Lennox said. The young soldier, Luke stared at him with shock and lifted his chin as he watched the rear of the jet opening and one of the soldiers gave him a parachute. Bravely, he strapped it on and stepped closer to the edge, looked down and swallowed.

"Ready?", Epps called out from behind and we freed us from the nets, driving closer to the edges. "Go!"

Lennox and a few others jumped with Ironhide and Chromia. The other soldiers made their way towards the edge. I drove closer to the one called Luke, who did not notice me. Something about him reminded me of Sam. So young and afraid and yet brave enough to do everything to help us and we did so little to help him.

**::Bumblebee, I believe the young man needs some assistance.:: **I called to our youngest member of our team.

My scout transformed, walked to the edge and unobtrusively pulled the young man with him out of the plane. I followed them, and already cut the robes of my parachutes as I saw the Seeker coming at me. My battle mask shot forward as I onlined my cannons and aimed within my fall at the seeker beneath me, but he noticed it and dodged before the bullet could hit him.

We weren't there fast enough. The people of the village had already either evacuated themselves or the Decepticons have taken hostages. If there were still humans hiding here, it would be better for them to stay where they were and pray not to be hidden at the wrong place.

I did not know the seeker, who came at me from above as I landed on the ground. That had become the fate of many Cybertronians. I had never known their name when I killed them. Even though it was still hard, it was easier when you don't know whose life you are taking and concentrate and how many lives he or she has taken. He looks so young. I can tell what he must be going on in his processor: _Doesn't shoot from above, lands beside me. _He maybe wants to end me with honor. _Run, fool, run while you still have the chance to! _I lift myself up and aim my cannons at him. "Stand down and be spared!"

But he doesn't stand down. He fires and then it surprises him when my blade slices its way through his spark. I feel regret go through me as many times before when his optics go dim and he stares at me in shock. Indeed, he must have been young, far too young to be dragged into this war. They probably told him he had a chance and he believed it. My battle mask shot back as I pulled my sword out of his chest, watching him tumble backwards and fall to his knees. "You should not have picked the wrong side," I said, my voice dripping with grief. He fell over and I could see the Decepticon insignia burned onto his left wing.

**::Optimus! We got one! 'Hide says there's still one to go!:: **Willam Lennox called on my comm. link.

I took a step backwards, still looking at the dead seeker.**::I'm on my way.:: **I replied back.

Knowing there was no reason for staying any longer, I transformed and made my way down the street past the burning houses. Slowly, I tried to take in everything, scanning the whole area, looking for her. Maybe she already left the village with the other inhabitants or she was still here…Somewhere.

Shots came from my right. My tires screeched as I turned around, heading towards where the shooting came from. Two different ones. An Autobot and a Decepticon facing off.

**::Got him!:: **Sideswipe shouted over the link.

I transformed shortly before I could see them fighting. Sideswipe got thrown back and the Decepticon darted towards me. He looked similar to Blackout, though he appeared to be less experienced in battle and apparently hadn't met me yet.

He came at me with his bare fists, accompanied by a battle cry. I took him by the shoulder and turned him around, punching against his chest armor. He freed himself and walked back, not even glancing at the dent dangerously close to his spark chamber.

"_You must be the Prime._", he hissed in Cybertronian, his Kaon dialect clearly heard.

Then he got out his blades and darted forward again, only to get overthrown by Sideswipe. I got out my blades to help my fellow soldier, as a whistle from below suddenly caught my attention. I glanced down, spotting something behind a piece of a wall. Golden, blond hair. My eyes widened as she lifted her head and looked up at me. Her scars went all across her face, reminding me of not having been able to protect her. Her eyes widened and she stared at me in shock and she suddenly screamed. "ORION!"

I whirled around, just fast enough to dodge the blade coming right for my head. The Decepticon roared in fury at his failed attempt. I looked to the side, only to see Sideswipe lying unconsciously in the ruins of some shop. I returned the favor and my blade crossed his as I tried to cut off his head.

I subspaced my smaller blades and transformed my left arm into my energon blade, which glowed bright orange. And I rammed it mercilessly between his armor plating. The pressure against my blade vanished as the Decepticon tumbled backwards while his left hand was pressed onto the rapidly leaking wound. He looked towards me, then to his hand and back to me again before he let out a loud roar and his blade transformed into a cannon. His aim was poor and I had no problem at dodging the shots. It was obvious that this mech was built for fighting, but even he saw that he was to loose such a battle.

I decided it would be better to end this like it was supposed to be and dashed forward, striding out to get a harder impact. A mech with his strong build should die in close combat, not under unfair circumstances. The Decepticon saw it coming, but he could not do much against it than to dodge to the side, which cost him his right arm. He howled in pain and shot aimlessly around him, finally getting a hit on my chest plating. Once more, I reached out and my arm shot forward, the blade burning its way through the Decepticons armor, extinguishing his spark. His frame went limb and his optics dim as I pulled the blade out, letting the lifeless body fall to the ground.

"Prime!" Ironhide came running towards me, his cannons charged and aiming for the dead Decepticon lying beneath me. I took a step back, taking in the scene. The buildings were either burning or completely destroyed. There was no hope that the inhabitants had survived this if they had hid inside theses buildings. Sideswipe was still unconscious and I slowly started walking towards him.

"Ratchet!" Ironhide called out for the medic after he noticed Sideswipe's unconscious form. Said medic raced around the corner and transformed, jogging over to the wounded soldier. I knelt down beside him, looking at the cracks and scratches all over his armor. As Ratchet arrived, I rose, taking a few steps back to let the medic do his work. I knew Sideswipe was in good hands. Ratchet was the best of the best and he knew what he was doing.

"_Deina!_"A voice in my mind exclaimed and I turned around, scanning the area. It turned out impossible to find her by simply searching for the heat radiating off her body. Flames licked over the buildings and slowly ate their way through the walls. I thought she might have ran away from the battle, but as my gaze drifted to where I had found her before, I was proven wrong. There she was, still hidden in these ruins. With a helpless expression in her eyes, she looked up at me, but quickly lowered her gaze as hers met mine. A slightly red tint adorned her cheeks when she turned her head to the side. Cautiously, I stepped closer, kneeling down beside her.

"Deina.", I whispered, she only looked at me confused and frowned. Just as she wanted to open her mouth to say something and pushed herself off ground, a painful moan escaped her. Surprised, she looked down at her foot, only to find it trapped under a big piece of the house wall. I frowned, stretching out a hand and carefully wrapped it around the piece of wall. Another groan escaped her before she bit her lip. She looked away and closed her eyes tightly.

Carefully, I lifted the wreckage up, tossing it to the side, not leaving her out of my sight while I did so. Her hands were clenched to fists and she grimaced at the pain, gritting her teeth. With guilt building up in my spark, I inspected her limb. Her right leg was covered with blood and stretched out in a strained angle. Her clothes were torn and covered with dust and a few scratches.

"It's alright, I'm here.", I whispered, stretching out my other hand, gently lift her up. When I heard the soldiers approaching, weapons ready for battle. They shouted orders as they came closer, probably seeing the offlined Decepticon. With a curse inadvertently leaving my lip components, I turned around, watching Ratchet while he helped Sideswipe to stand. He gave me a quick glance, his optics widened when he spotted her. Lennox came forward, obviously having noticed the femme too.

"Ma'am, I will have my first medical officer attend to your injuries.", I said firmly, more as an explanation for Lennox than her. She looked up at me and gave me a small, weak smile, already having noticed the soldier coming towards her. But soon before Lennox could kneel down beside her, Ratchet had already switched into his roll as a medic, giving her a complete scan, while shoving Lennox and me aside.

**::Bruises, cuts, tibia fracture, but nothing I can't fix. Don't worry, Prime, she will be fine.:: **Ratchet's report took away my worries.

With that said, I rose, watching him transform and his rarely used holoform get out to place her into the back of his alt mode. She gave me one last painful look and Ratchet closed the doors. Lennox watched them both silently until my CMO slowly drove away.

"She got hurt during battle?", Lennox asked, though it sounded more like a statement. Without even considering to answer him, I made my way over to Sideswipe, leaving Lennox behind without a word of explanation.

"Well, he's dead.", my soldier commented at the sight of the lifeless Decepticon, which slowly covered the ground with Energon. Ironhide steadied him, while he slowly made his way over to the humans. Some of them looked a bit disappointed, others relieved seeing as they hadn't had to do that much on this mission. Fortunately, our team would not have to mourn for one of their own today.

"Are there any civilians left, or has the town been completely evacuated?"

"Apparently not. That woman wasn't evacuated, but I haven't seen anyone else around," Epps stated, resting his gun on his shoulder while looking up straight at me. They all awaited orders, whether to search further or return to base. Sometimes I wondered how it would be like to not be responsible for everything happening.

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><p><em><strong>Ellie Goulding - lights<strong>_

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><p><em><strong>I hope you liked it and like promised, the next chapter will come this weekend ;)<strong>__**  
><strong>_

_**Do me a favor and R&R THINK OF THE CHILDREN! XD**_


	11. Decepticon sightings II

_**Here comes the second part. It actually doesn't have that much of a real plot, but hey. Hope you guys like it :D**_

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><p><em><strong>Decepticon sightings II<strong>_

_**Ratchet's POV**_

"Please hold still for a moment.", I said while injecting a needle with painkillers in her thigh. She closed her eyes and turned her head away, giving out a small grunt. I raised an eyebrow as she turned her head to me again.

"I'm not a fan of needles, doc.", she explained with a shrug, accompanied by a smile. Her body relaxed, sooner than it would have, had I given her normal painkillers. But as I moved to examine her leg, she tensed and sucked in the air around her.

"So, you're the one causing Optimus all of the trouble, lately?" As an experienced medic, I knew distraction was the best I could give the femme at the moment. Glad for my offer to do so, she joined the game.

"Yes, I guess you might say that..." Her voice was surprisingly hoarse, but my scans indicated no damage to her lungs or anything else which could have cause that.

"You must be quite a sensitive being.", I murmured, fully intending her to hear it. With a smile, I watched how she grimaced once more, as I brought out a scalpel and another needle. Carefully, she sat up as I cut away at the pant's leg, being sure not to look at what I was doing, but observe my expressions.

"Ha! How am I sensitive? " The tone in her voice was filled with panic and dread, her right eye twitching. I inserted the other needle and got to work, careful not to let her see what I was doing.

"Well, it did not take much to make you leave him.", I simply replied, stating the obvious. She flinched, either because she had looked down or I had brought up a bad topic. After a few more seconds of silence, she took a deep breath.

"I've been... hurt. It takes long for me to trust somebody and it took especially long to trust him. I... couldn't completely comprehend what I was doing when I finally realized he had broken his promise and... let's just say, he left a gash." I nodded, despite her answer, she was still a riddle to me. Why did she run away after her encounters with Optimus stopped?

Suddenly, the ground shook and she let out a yelp of surprise. Her hand shot forward and grabbed my shoulder, trying to steady herself. I stopped working and supported her weakened body.

"What was that?!", she whispered with a high pitched voice. The turbines roared to live and surrounded us with loud noises. I laid a hand around her waist to prevent her from falling backwards as we took off.

"The jet just started up. Nothing you need to worry about."

"What? We're flying?! W-why?!" The pain in her voice doubled, apparently, she wasn't "a fan" of flying either. Her hands dug deep into my holoform and cause it to flicker for a few seconds.

"Please calm down. There's no need to be afraid.", I whispered and held her gently against my body until the flight got smoother. And still her eyes were widened in fear and little drops of sweat started to form on her head. I placed a hand on her forehead to check her temperature.

"Aerophobia.", she managed to press out through gritted teeth. Gently, I guided her body back down onto the berth. Leaving her hands to clench onto the metal, I got back to my work.

"We will soon arrive at the NEST headquarters, where further medical attention will be given to you." It was not hard to hear that she was indeed trying to calm herself by taking deep and slow breaths.

"We're not alone in the 'jet', are we?"

"No. The soldiers, along with the other Autobots, are here too.", I replied, noticing her body relaxing a bit.

"...Orion too?" Her hopeful question was so soft that not even Ironhide couldn't hear her. Though what startled me the most was the name she used for Optimus. How long has it been since I had called him that? Orion?

"Yes, he is here...", I hesitantly answered, observing how she visibly relaxed this time, though her heart rate made a jump. Interesting. And when she realized I was watching her, she blushed. _Very _interesting. I couldn't avoid the smirk crawling upon my face.

"S-so, what do you mean with _further _medical attention?" It was more than obvious that she simply wanted to switch the subject and keep herself occupied with something other than her fear of flight.

"Right now, I do not possess the means to fully repair the damage that has been inflicted on your leg. But the supplies in my medical bay at the NEST headquarters should do it."

She nodded, frowning a bit. Then I noticed that I still did not know her name. Did Optimus know it by now?

"And... then? What happens with me after that?"

"Actually, I would like to keep you in my medical bay, regarding as you appear to attract Decepticons nearly as much as a particular friend of us... is that correct?", I noted, tracing a finger down one of the scars that covered her face to examine it. She nodded with a sad smile.

"But unfortunately, it is not common that I have humans in _my _medical bay and it would attract the attention of our liaison. I believe you still do not want anyone to know of your acquaintance with... Orion?" She nodded once more, now giving me her full attention.

"I will ask said friend whether he would be willing to accommodate you, as long as needed."

"How long would that be?"

"It depends on how good you listen to my advice and if you still wish to become estranged to Orion. I'm certain that he still wants you to stay with us." With skilled hands, I ripped part of her cloth off and wrapped it around her leg.

"This should do it...", I then mumbled while opening a com. link to Bumblebee.**:**

**:I need you to ask Sam whether he would be willing to help us. The girl can't stay in my med-bay for long.::**

**::Will do!::**

And only seconds later, the plane started to dive, sending tremors through the whole machine, causing her to jump slightly on the berth. Her injured leg fell onto the metal again, making her hiss in pain. I hadn't given her enough pain-killers to hold for the whole flight.

"We're landing.", I simply replied, my holoform made sure to absorb the tremors from the plane so that they would not damage her body any further. The pilot gave orders through the speakers attached to the sidewalls of the plane. The soldiers strapped themselves to their seats and prepared for the impact. Seeing as tremors increased, my holoform held her body close to it so she wouldn't be tossed around.

"Finally!", Ironhide muttered and simultaneously, the whole plane hit the ground with a loud rumble. Patiently, I waited for the soldiers to take the nets from my alternate form, observing her, while she squeezed her eyes shut.

**::Sammy's alright with it! Carly too! We shouldn't bring her there before 6.30 though. Carly's not back until then...:: **Bumblebee sent a quick message to me.

Gently, I laid her back onto the berth, giving her a reassuring smile before my hologram disappeared and I drove off the plane, to the awaiting paramedics. They hesitantly stepped into my alternate form to get her out and I had to bring up all the self-control I possessed to not bark at them. In the end, I simply scolded them for not being fast enough, but at least she appeared to find her joy in their ashamed and startled faces. But the only thing I could see in them were completely useless wannabe medics!

"Get her in the med-bay! What are you waiting for?!" I got reminded of all those naïve junior medics back on Cybertron, thinking they were destined to do something, but in the end all they were destined to do was jump for the real medics!

**::Ratchet, what is going on?:: **Optimus was obviously worried about the girl's status. He transformed, walking over to the already waiting Galloway, but not without sending her a concerned look. Epps and Lennox were next to him, obviously not looking forward to the meeting with him.

**::Nothing. Only some incompetent fools pretending to be qualified medics. I'll handle it.:: **I growled over the link. I wish I could chuck a wrench at one of them, but if only they were our species.

He visibly relaxed at that and finally quickened his pace. The girl appeared to be completely oblivious to her surroundings when all her attention focused on Optimus. She could still see him from here while he talked with Galloway.

"Ma'am!", She finally turn her head around to the young soldier and I watched with amusement how he blushed at the sight of her. He lifted his hand and drove it through his hair.

"M-my superiors need to know your name, ma'am. T-to identify you, I mean." He gave her a small smile which she politely returned, but her heart rate made a spike. Apparently, she either did not want him to know her name, or she liked him. If it wasn't for him talking to Galloway, I would have dragged Optimus over here.

"Hey, I said, 'in my med-bay'! What's taking you so long?" And the paramedics quickly rolled her berth into the direction of it. The soldier, on the other hand, just stood by and watched, sending me a hateful glare. He didn't even flinch when I returned one back to him.

_**Her POV**_

_No big deal! Keep calm! Ratchet will take care of my leg and as soon as I can walk again, I'll sneak out of this guys' house. But what if he's nice? I wanted to go back to Orion, didn't I? I even found him! Or he found me... I wonder what happened to Walter?_

"Ma'am! M-my superiors need to know your name, ma'am."

I would probably have thought that the soldier in front of me was handsome, but my eyes didn't meet his. They met the gun that hung over his shoulders. Not that I didn't like soldiers... I simply disliked people who killed. No matter what they killed. Mostly those who didn't even regret it... Or tried to verify it with some pathetic excuse!

But I already started panicking, although my brain needed another second to see the problem in his words. My name! _Tell him and he'll be begging on his knees for forgiveness! Tell him and they'll let you go! Tell him and the last bit of Orion will be gone forever! _What to say?

"Hey, I said 'in my med-bay'! What's taking you so long?" And with the biggest amount of gratefulness one could possess. I send my hero a last glance, but he was having a stare down battle with the soldier.

And from then on, they left me alone. The doctors around were quick to fix my leg under Ratchet's strict observation. Even with the smallest mistakes, that usually weren't even seen as mistakes, they were punished with exile from the med-bay for the rest of the day. After some time, I leaned back, closed my eyes and started thinking. Thinking until I had something that could help me..."Ma'am?"

"I think she's sleeping..."

"Let her be. Must've been a long day."

And then I heard them leaving. The room went silent except for the heavy steps of Ratchet and I decided I could open my eyes again, and stared down at my foot. I groaned when I saw the plaster cast. It nearly reached to my hip. How could I not have noticed that? And more important, how long would they leave it on there?

"Not sleeping then, are you?"

My head shot around once more, only to see Ratchet standing in front of some improvised Robot-sized table. I felt bad for him. He made as much as possible from the little he had, but still it wasn't nearly as good as it must have been on Cybertron. "I would like to... thank you. Ratchet, right?" He turned around to me and nodded, giving me a small smile.

"I assume you would not be upset by the thought of telling me your designation?" I returned the smile and shook my head.

"Call me whatever you want."

"Alright then, femme. Optimus will get you to Sam as soon as Galloway finished the meeting. I strongly advise you to stay with Sam and rest until I give you the allowance to leave, understood?" I replied with a nod. I didn't really know what else to reply, but then a soldier came in, carefully looking up at Ratchet.

"Ever heard anything about knocking? You're starting to get worse than those pit-spawned twin fraggers!"

The soldier winced at the medics tone, but continued made his way over. I knew what he wanted, although it wasn't the same one from before.

"Ma'am, I..."

"I know. Ya need my name, right? Alicia Willis, nice to meet ya.", I said and gave him a wide grin. Hopefully he bought it. Quickly, he took my hand and shook it.

"Roberts, Ma'am. Luke Roberts."

With another smile, he disappeared again, leaving me alone with Ratchet once more. But the medic apparently ignored me. What did he think of me now that I had either lied to him or the soldier?

I felt awkward. Mostly because of the giant plaster cast around my leg that reached my hip. Fortunately, the simple awkwardness got replaced by more awkwardness, when the yellow Autobot - I believed it was Bumblebee – entered the room. Of course, not without bringing more soldiers inside. They kind of looked like insects next to the Autobots and actually behaved pretty much like them too.

"Mrs. Willis? We are happy to say that you are now allowed to depart. If you wish so, we will inform your father or your husband about the latest events and escort you back to your home." In my opinion, he was a little too old for a soldier. He didn't wear a uniform either and his hair already went gray. His body was skinny and pale. I bet he wasn't even half as old as he looked, but the glasses on his nose did a pretty good job with aging him too.

"No, thank ya.", I replied much colder than I had intended. _Damn, you can't allow yourself those mistakes! Cover up! How can you cover this up, he's already raising an eyebrow!_

"And who am I talking to?", I asked, still too cold, but I added a little sorrow and made myself look anxious. _Make it believable!_

"Theodore Galloway. I am the official liaison of the NEST team," he said and I couldn't come around the thought that I already disliked him. But I was grateful for this chance of a cover-up.

"And how would ya know about my husband?" And there went away his mistrust and he forced a smile on his lips. It didn't look real at all. Apparently, he wasn't that much of a good actor.

"Ma'am, we checked your identity in the government database. There are many who try to fool us with telling wrong names."

_Oh if you knew, honey._

"So I can go?", I carefully asked, looking up at Ratchet who pointedly ignored Galloway. The wannabe liaison nodded. Just as he opened his mouth, the soldier whom I had told my 'name' stepped forward with a smile on his face.

"I can give you a ride..., Ma'am." Luke, I guessed. Yes, his name was Luke. But before I could smile up at him, the yellow Autobot - I still wasn't sure whether it was really Bumblebee, but it made sense with his paintjob - stepped forward, making some weird noises. Not a second later, he transformed and drove over to me, opening his passenger door.

"_May I?" _he asked through his radio. With a yelp, I got scooped up from behind and the next second, sat in the car.

"Th-thanks, Ratchet?", I muttered and the door closed while a seat belt wrapped around me. I felt more like being kidnapped than escorted...

Galloway looked shocked for a moment, the other offended and opened his mouth to interrupt just as the car roared its engine to life and raced out. My nails dug deep into the leather and my teeth clenched when I expected the car to make a harsh movement any second, which would get my leg to hurt immensely, but to my surprise, the ride stayed smooth and slowly got to a more acceptable speed. After a few seconds of realization and another few seconds of mistrust, I finally relaxed and got my leg into a more comfortable position.

"Erm... thanks. Bumblebee, right?" Was it just me or was his name so obvious? So chosen without any fantasy? Well, but actually, it was kind of cute and I had to admit, it fitted. Mostly when he answered my question with a few high beeps and chirps. My cheeks turned red and it was impossible to hold the smile back that was slowly crawling on my face.

All of a sudden, he slowed down until his engine died and we simply stood there in the middle of the road. Panic came upon me when I heard this deafening honk. I sunk deeper into the seats in a pathetic attempt to hide myself. Somehow, there was nothing I wanted less than to talk to him. I even prayed for the ground to open below us, make me disappear so that I wouldn't have to see him, or even talk to him. But as god or Primus or whichever deity it was, apparently decided to make me pay, the yellow car, which wasn't as cute as I had thought it was, opened the doors, revealing me to the giant red and blue Peterbilt truck next to it.

"...hi.", I mumbled while looking up at him from this extremely awkward position in the car. Without another word, his driver's door opened and I stared up with a groan to the steering wheel like miles away, as if it wanted to mock me. Did he really think I was able to make this climb without any help? Apparently, yes.

I fought myself out of the seat belts, trying to save the little dignity I still had, and swung my legs out, trying not to show any emotion as my leg started slowly, but obviously to send waves of pain through my body. When I had finally managed to lever myself out of Bumblebee's abnormally deep seats, I jumped slowly from one car to the other, being sure to take as long as I could. But in the end, I saw myself in front of a huge problem. How should I get up there? The plaster cast around my leg made this immensely complicated.

I tried placing myself on the first step up leading to the driver's cabin and pulled myself up, but then I earned a chuckle from a special yellow robot for looking so pathetic with not even being able to get into a truck.

"What!? You got a problem?", I spat at him as the chuckle of beeps and whirrs went into something one could consider as laugh. I crossed my arms over my chest and stared at him, not bothering I was already sitting in front of the seat by now. Bumblebee noticed my glares and tried to stop himself from laughing at me. Never had I though robots could choke from laughing. It did not sound healthy.

With the last reserves of my strength, I heaved myself up onto the seat, collapsing on it and pointedly ignoring the dying yellow car, shaking from his uncontrollable "laugh". Finally. the car doors closed and my cheeks turned lightly red when I realized how long it had taken me to get up here. His strong engine roared to life and I suddenly noticed how much I had actually missed this noise, the feeling of his smooth driving style and his smell. Who knew robots had their own smell, but they did! This very little hint of metallic... I didn't even know I could smell it! I couldn't really compare it to anything, it just smelled so good.

Without even knowing what I did, I slowly laid my hands on the steering wheel while it minimally turned from side to side. I stroke along the leather and sighed. "I won't keep you from going away. I made mistakes and thus have to pay for them. I'll let you get off at the next motel." There was something in his voice that made my mood fall deep into the ground. Pain... hurt... guilt... and what was the last one? Something much smoother, making his voice sound so gentle in its dark baritone.

"I missed you." Were the only words I could say. I had missed him more than I originally thought. And yet, I've been strong enough to not come back until I had given up. "I _miss _you."

A little shiver went through his frame, causing him to lurch on the road for a few seconds. Gradually, he recovered from the shock I had apparently caused him. But yes, I still did miss him. I missed what we had and what I had already expected to not last long. And then, he turned. Not just somewhere, but right on the street, he turned around, driving back to where we came from. It stayed silent and I mildly wondered where he was getting me to. Until he drove into the city, crossed a few streets and turned into a few streets, so easily without the slightest hesitance as if he had already driven this route for over a thousand times and more. He stopped at some type of slightly older condo complex.

The door opened and a tall, young man stepped out, accompanied by an oddly beautiful blonde woman. It hit me like a brick, this was Sam! The boy who had helped the Autobots since the very first day they had arrived on Earth. Orion greeted them and opened the driver's door, revealing me to the two humans. A small and warm grin spread across the man's face and he walked forward to help me out. He introduced himself as exactly who I had thought he was.

Gently, he laid his arms around my body and lifted me out of the car, trying to make it look as if my weight didn't affect him. With big, fast steps, he moved towards the door. And shortly before it closed, I believed I still heard Orion say something, but no, I must have been mistaken.

"_I missed you too..."_

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><p><em><strong>Awww... <strong>_

_**So what did you think? Like? Hate? **_

_**Tell me, pleeeeeeaaassseeee! :D**_

_**R&R**_

_**Love y'all!**_


	12. Decisions

**_Hi!_**

**_I'm really sorry that I don't update more often, but I'll try to get the next chapter as soon as possible. _**

**_This is a really short one, sorry... But the next one will be longer, I promise :)_**

**_Have fun reading ;)_**

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><p><strong><em>Decisions<em>**

**Sam's POV**

"So, you're sure she means __that __much to him?"

I had no clue what time it was. 7am or 8am maybe, if not earlier. Only little light made it through the curtains, but still it was enough to see Carly's silhouette lying next to me in the bed. She fumbled with the tip of her blanket, blowing a streak of hair out of her vision while staring at the ceiling. "He told me some time ago.", I responded while studying her face.

She gave me a small nod like she always did when she was trapped in her deep thoughts; then she let her head fall to the side and I continued studying her face. These brilliant blue eyes framed by long, black eyelashes, and her little snub nose. She and Mikaela were in no way alike. Carly didn't need a yellow Camaro who could transform into a giant robo-alien. She didn't even need my hero stories to start to like me. She just did.

"What does he think he's doing?", Carly then asked, her voice much higher than usual. She looked desperate and, as sad as it was, I had to admit that she had all reason to be. This could not end well. The moment the government found out who knew if the Autobots would even get a chance of saving their rights to stay. "I don't know... I really wish I did, but I don't..."

(-)

The smell from the kitchen was the oddest one I ever experienced and I wondered how something smelling that good could be completely vegetarian. Optimus had called me yesterday evening again, to tell me that she was pescetarian. I had to google the definition before I knew what he meant though. She ate fish and shellfish instead of red meat. Carly hadn't minded that and thanks to Optimus' little girlfriend, I was set onto a pescetarian diet until she left. Carly had thought it might be a 'nice variety'. Guess, I'd have to go all the way back to Miles to get some real food then...

As I stepped into the kitchen, I saw all the stuff lying around. "Stuff" meaning healthy stuff, not like my type of healthy stuff. Most of which I never saw before.

"Hey, Carls'. Whatcha doin'?"

"Oh, just shut up, Sam." She replied dead serious, but as always when she tried to stay serious, a small smile brought her expression to crumble away. She put down the knife, with which she had just cut some green, leafy vegetables, and put her hands on her hips. "Isn't she awake yet?"

I stepped next to her and took the knife, and began cutting the food by myself. "Don't think so. She didn't respond when I knocked."

"Well, as far as I heard from what Bumblebee told you, she must have had a pretty hard day. I'll try waking her up in an hour or so", she then mumbled and her eyes lowered to what I was doing. "Honey, you're doing it all wrong! You have to cut them long ways."

"Since when do you tell me how to cook? I'm the 'housewife' here!", I snapped back and kept her from grabbing the knife in my hand. Since she still earned more than I ever would, who knew, maybe I, who had saved the world two times, would end as a "housewife", a go-fer. I could already hear Ironhide's jokes about me...

"Ahem... Good morning."

The voice from behind caught me totally off guard and I whirled around, the knife still in my hand. It cut along my left arm and fortunately, through with some effort, I managed to suppress my curses. Carly was quick to hand me a clean dishcloth, which I wrapped around my bleeding arm.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry! Did it cut in deep?" She asked and, as odd as it was, the only thought I had was that any fool could see she was a vegetarian, even though she did eat some meat. I mean, she was thin, dressed a bit like a hippie and she was apparently quick to be concerned. I was perfectly aware of the fact that I would be in a lot of trouble, should I say it out loud. Carly was quite sensitive about stereotypes.

"Don't worry, he's simply overacting. Go get yourself a bandage. Second cupboard!" Carly stated, pushing me towards the bathroom. With a growl, I obeyed and made my way over to it, taking what I needed out of the cupboard and then carefully took care of my injured arm. It didn't cut in that deep, so I wouldn't have to go to the hospital or let Ratchet take a look. Though he'd probably do that anyway... They always thought they owed me something and tried to make us even with every opportunity, no matter how small.

When I returned to the kitchen, they were already eating. Alright, it might have taken me a bit longer than I thought, but at least I didn't miss lunch. My plate was already filled and I took a seat next to our guest. Her leg lying on another chair and she was trying to eat without twisting her spine.

Slowly, I raised the fork to my mouth and got surprised. It tasted even better than it smelled. "So, since we haven't had much time to talk yet, how about you tell us something about you? We don't even know your name."

She knew that Carly just tried to be polite and break the ice, but unfortunately, she seemed to have started with the wrong questions. Her left eye twitched slightly and she poked her food a few times. Then she lifted her head with a polite smile, but it looked rather panic-struck than polite.

"Mmmhh, this stuff is good. What is it anyway?" I quickly asked, taking another mouthful of it. Carly played along. "Mie noodles with chard, carrots, ginger, tofu and soy sauce. I agree, it turned out pretty well, right? We should do this more often."

The girl smiled lightly and visibly relaxed. With her left hand, she wiped some strands of hair off her forehead and swallowed before she started talking. "You can call me Rose. Rose Bredwick. I'm 21 and – as you apparently already know – vegetarian."

"And, how did you meet Optimus? If that's not too personal..." Carly tried and I could see the well known curiosity flare up in her eyes. Of course she tried to hide it, so she continued eating, but her gaze was still focused on Rose.

"That is... okay, I guess. I was traveling a bit through the US and apparently missed the evacuation order, when the Autobots arrived to... take care of a Decepticon, I saw him and well... he noticed me too." She said while trying to avoid eye contact. "How did you two meet?"

"Oh, that is a pretty good story! I was just called to meet the President of the United States after I had saved the world -again- so that he could hand me the medal of bravery..." I started, but got interrupted when Carly hit my foot with her high heels and I let out a manly sound of suppressed pain.

"Yes, he got his medal and as soon as he was outside, he destroyed the décor in the entrance hall. That was right when I met my 'hero'. He tried to impress me with it, you know?" Carly whispered as she leaned closer in and winked. "It did impress you!" I quickly added, trying to save my dignity. Carly only laughed at that and blew me a kiss. "Of course you did, honey."

**Her POV, later**

Absentminded, I rubbed my leg, trying to get under the plaster cast. I was grateful for the silence and although I didn't like dark colors or even darker spaces, the curtains were set so that as little light as possible found its way into the room, which I would stay in for as long as Ratchet wanted me to. What other choice did I have? I was ashamed that I had betrayed myself like this. Never had I thought I would have to live like this. Lie like this. Granted, I had known what I was doing when I came here. I've had a decision that I made, a plan to fulfill, but one puny detail hadn't played along. This one thing caused me to live in shame, in lies, rather chained than free.

With a sigh, I let myself fall backwards onto the bed and buried my face in the pillows. The migraine was coming up again. It was very likely that this one would last more than a day. It's been awhile since I had one this bad, but I didn't complain. I was in a masochistic mood and as long as this pain could cover the shame I felt, I was alright with it.

I pulled my legs up to my chin and curled around them, closing my eyes. Sometimes I wished I could just make my brain shut up. Stop all these plans and worries and thoughts. The memories and the pain. I knew it would get worse. It already was bad, but only because I knew I'd have to stay here for a very long time. I couldn't decide what was worse. The pain, which only went away when I gained my freedom, or the longing to be in his presence the second I had my freedom? I knew my brain would, like most of the times, win and choose the option for my freedom, but did I want to live with a heart out of stone, since it had just gotten melted by him once more? __Chained, would be a better word!___, _a voice in my brain screamed and I whimpered, holding my head.

How much more would I have to bear until I finally got what I came for? Did I even still want to get it? Only because I loved one part of him, didn't mean I had to love the other part too, did it? On the contrary, the more I thought about this cold, distant leader figure, the more shivers were sent down my spine. No, I could more than certainly live without this side of him. Without the Prime. Yet, I could not live without Orion...

What did this mean? That everything I came for, I_ f___ought __for, just vanished? Turned to ashes that got blown away by the wind like a burned contract made with the devil? The world was cruel, but could this be seen as cruel? Could I not simply consider it as a new chance?

Finally, my body showed mercy and led me into a deep sleep, though tortured by dreams, which were more like nightmares, but I was thankful for any distraction. I did not want to confess myself that I had already made my choice...

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><p><em><strong>So we're getting closer to finding out more about her. What do you think did she came for in the first place?<strong>_

_**Write in the Reviews or PM me, I'm happy for every feed back I get :D**_

_**So don't forget to R&R**_


	13. holding on and letting go

**_Hi guys. The next chapter is ready (finally) -.-'_**

**_Anyway, thank you for sticking to this story and I hope you enjoy this chappie;)_**

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><p><span><strong><em>Holding on and letting go<em>**

_Her POV, her room_

"How long did Ratchet want me to wear this thing?" I asked no one in particular. There was no one there to answer me anyway. Carly was at work and Sam at another one of his incredibly many interviews. He wanted a job, so desperately that I nearly felt sorry for him, but I had to admit that I rather had him here than out working. Of course, Carly was nice, but I despised the compassion that laid in every look she gave me.

She knew what the problem was with me and Orion; she wasn't in the least trying to hide it. Sam, on the other hand, didn't even bother knowing. He had accepted it, I guessed. Anyway, the atmosphere was less tense when he was around. But today, I was alone.

I fumbled around with the end of my belt. It had already been three weeks since Orion had dropped me off at Sam's. My leg didn't hurt that much anymore and I was sure the plaster cast would be off in one or two more weeks. I knew I needed it, but having this thing chaining me to this house was horrible and terrifying. It terrified me to stay at the same place for so long. All my instincts were against it and I felt how my mood had dropped from sad to majorly depressed. When I was alone, I rarely ever did anything else, but to sit around and stare into the absolute nothingness, thinking about what had all gone wrong in my life.

I've had plans, didn't I? What had happened to them? What made me even __think__to give them up so easily? Orion. That's what I had thought. There hadn't been much more to think about. Like a little girl, I had fallen for him. I wondered how long it would last. I couldn't life with someone whom I loved and partly hated, could I?

I wondered if there was a reason. Why had he become a Prime? I knew that story. He had been the student of Sentinel Prime and later gained the Matrix of leadership when Sam reanimated him... Why? Why couldn't Sam, for once, leave his hands out of other people's business. Did anybody really know if the Decepticons would have killed us? Maybe not. Maybe we would have survived, and then I wouldn't have had to go through this. And even if they had killed us, was death not better than living a single lie?

With a groan, I pushed myself up from the bed and slowly made my way over to the bathroom. I was still afraid of taking a shower. Still a bit afraid of technology. For defense, I had a kitchen knife lying next to the sink, in the bathroom. I already knew that it could crush their eyes. With a little luck, it would also go through an intruder's spark... but I highly doubted I would be able to do such a thing.

The mirror was still as clean as it had been when I had moved in here. I wore my hair in a messy bun, more than just one streak had fallen out of it. My usually gold blonde hair was dull and dry. The color was empty of life just like my face. I looked sick. I even lost some weight. My scars covering my face were more prominent now, although I had been eating properly. It was just that... there were so many questions without answers! So many problems without solutions! My life was a mess. And the worst was that I couldn't just walk away from it. I was being held captive by my own goddamn body!

How pitiful it was when I started to cry. Not slowly or silent either. The tears ran down my cheek like a waterfall and they dripped down my nose and my chin like rain. It hadn't been half as bad, had I at least been crying quietly, but no. I was sobbing like a baby.

I knew I could hold it back. The tears, the sobs, but I was simply too tired. Too tired of holding everything back, keeping it all locked up inside of me. And without thinking about it, I let everything out. Screamed so loud and so long until my throat was sore and I was sure I wouldn't be able to talk the next couple of days. Still I wouldn't stop. There was too much inside me. Too strong for me to hold back. It had been tearing me apart from the inside, now it was going to do the same to the outside...

"What the...?!"

How long had he been standing there? Had he just come in? But what shocked me most was the question why I couldn't stop myself from screaming.

I didn't see or hear him either as he made his way over to me. I felt a sharp pain stretching across my left cheek. Had Sam just slapped me? I didn't know. My vision was blurred by the tears and I heard a high tone.

"Ratchet?", he whispered urgently. Oh no. Don't you dare call them! "No, she's not fine... I-I don't know! She's been screaming like hell when I came into her room. I have no idea how long she's been doing that. Yeah, I got her to calm down..."

__'So that's what you call 'calming a person down', eh? Beating up a helpless little girl?!'__A voice in my head hissed in anger and shock. It wasn't really what someone would do to calm a person down. He would regret it...

"Hey, shhhhh. No need to cry.", Sam cooed into my right ear and pulled me close to his chest. When his arms slung around me, I opened my mouth and bit as hard as I could, digging my teeth into his flesh until I tasted blood. He howled from the pain and jerked backwards, causing me to fall onto the ground. Now it was my turn to howl in pain when my leg hit the floor.

I whimpered and tried pulling it up to my chest, so that I could hug it, but this stupid plaster cast wouldn't let me. A new wave of tears filled my eyes. When was the last time I had cried this much? I shouldn't have lost control! I should have kept it all in! Now, for once, I was happy to hear the sirens of an ambulance come closer. I knew it was this all too familiar ambulance, so I tried concentrating myself on the noises which radiated from it. To my dismay, it didn't in the least distract me from the pain in my leg.

The sudden honk from right in front of the house made it only worse. I started to panic; I didn't want to talk to him. I wasn't ready! If he saw me like this, I would blow my cover, I would destroy my life, I would...!

Another wave of high pitched, short screams escaped my now sore throat, what made them sound raw. Perfect. Just what I needed in front of the doc.

I bit my lip, tried to stop myself from screaming and somehow got the sobbing under control too. Only the tears were running silently down my cheeks. But that mostly because my leg felt like it was exploding. Did it break again?

Footsteps hurried up the stairs and the door was pushed open, crashed against the wall and got thrown back. "What happened?" Ratchet's deep voice filled the room and although I had never really liked being in hospitals and with the people who worked there, his presence was oddly reassuring. Mostly because he didn't freak out like Sam. When he knelt down next to me and grabbed my chin to lift it, he acted as if nothing had happened. Mere routine. How many times did he have to go through those situations? I knew he had been a field medic for who knows how long, but how long exactly? It must be beyond imagination...

He steadied my body while putting me into a sitting position, rushing something through my limbs. Must be the scanner...

A sigh and then, a hissing noise as if he... slapped someone?

"Argh! What was that for?!" Sam cried out and I couldn't hold back a snicker.

"You were supposed to keep her from harm, not inflict it on her!" He hollered back and his tone made any kind of resistance hopeless.

I lifted my hand to dry my eyes, but, the fact was, the pain was still as bad as it had been before. Only that I now had something to distract myself with. When Ratchet patted my shoulder, I only felt his touch, not his temperature. It was hard to describe, I couldn't find anything comparable. It was neither warm nor cold. And no matter how long his "skin" touched mine, his temperature didn't warm up...

"She bit me too so why aren't you yelling at her..." Sam whispered with a stubborn tone, like a child justifying his fight with a sibling. Ratchet didn't answer to that, but I could see, with a blurry vision, that he smiled while shaking his head.

"You are lucky your leg didn't break again. I will give you something for the pain and then we'll see...",he said, but it sounded like he was talking to himself, not to me. Suddenly, he lifted me in his arms bridal style and stood up. Without even the slightest stumble, he maneuvered us through the house. I looked around, trying to gain orientation and when I could make out a red and blue truck outside the door we were about to step through, I buried my face in Ratchet's chest. Maybe it was the fact that he somehow reminded me of my father, but maybe I just needed someone to be able to trust and, on the contrary to Orion, Ratchet hadn't let me down.

The doors of the ambulance swung open and Ratchet set me down on the berth, which suddenly seemed so much more familiar than my room at Sam's had after three weeks. While Ratchet (or his holographic form) fumbled around with something on the other side of the ambulance, I used my sleeve to wipe the tears off my face.

After a few more seconds, he returned with a syringe – oh joy – and a strange looking, silver liquid inside it. The liquid didn't even fill the thin syringe a quarter the way up. I frowned at the sight of it, leaning back a little to show him my doubt.

"Nanobots." He simply uttered.

"What?"

"I have extracted a sample of my own nanobots and would like to insert them into your body since I am not in the mood to tell Optimus that your leg was nearly broken for the second time." He whispered and, without any further explanation, inserted the needle into my thigh.

"B-but I thought I was 'lucky', you know, 'cause it didn't break again?" I replied, my voice shivering weakly. This was too much for me. Too much for one day. Could it get any worse? Ratchet let out a short, coughing laugh.

"I don't need Sam to accidentally tell Bumblebee who might 'accidentally' tell Ironhide or Mirage. Somehow it would get to Optimus or worse, Galloway. And if Galloway knew you are related to us...well, I don't doubt that he'd do everything to get us off planet since he's already trying so hard now. And the day we give him a reason to... I am confident that will be one of our last days on Earth."

I bit my lip, swallowing down the words Ratchet had let out. They were in as much trouble as I was. One might think the Autobots should be lucky to be on Earth, but what if it was true? If the government really just wanted to get rid of them? How could we justify these actions? They were here to help us and we...

__They were here to help us. ___T_ears boiled up in my eyes again. I had estimated them wrong the whole time. I had thought too bad of them. I had let myself be overwhelmed by the anger and cruelty I had seen coming from them. Now I had to tell Orion. I owed him! ...But on the other hand,, if he didn't suspect anything, why destroy what was between us? Since my mind sincerely hoped it wouldn't last forever... However, that could not be said about the rest of me.

I winced, when a sharp crack was heard from my leg, but I didn't feel any pain. It suddenly... vanished. I pulled it closer to me and drove a hand over it, feeling the touch, but no pain. I send a questioning look to the one responsible for this.

"The nanobots are quick to repair the human body. Metal needs longer to be rebuilt and requires more mass at the same volume." He replied, crossing his arms over his chest while leaning back.

"How do you...?" I asked, but didn't finish the sentence. His knowledge was kind of overwhelming. I had problems understanding what he said, but if he's smart enough to figure out that nanobots could be used to heal humans,… he must possess one pretty huge processor!

"I tried it on some of the wounded in Mission City... at least at the ones the government thought were doomed to die. It doesn't always work; it depends on the kind of damage afflicted on the body. Nanobots can't stop the bleeding, neither internal nor external, and they can't do anything about bullets that are lodged in the body or a heart that stopped beating. Broken bones, on the other hand, are no problem."

"You... helped the Mission City victims?" I whispered in shock. He nodded.

"Most of them. At some point, our resources were exhausted and they were too many. We would have been able to save a lot more lives though, had the government trusted our judgments. And although we never gave them a reason to regret it, they still did not listen to us in the other battles we fought." Ratchet replied after he had come over once more to cut the plaster cast off my leg.

Happy that it didn't hurt anymore, I pulled my legs up to my chest and hugged them, resting my cheek on my knees while examining the thoughtful expression on Ratchet's face. I felt guilty and ashamed for myself and my whole race. Suddenly, my mind wasn't so sure about my future anymore...

"You seem troubled. Is there something I can help you with?" The doc's deep voice flooded my mind, causing my thoughts to drown in its reassuring tone.

"Why did you help us? Why in the first place? Orion said it himself once that our race is cruel and violent! No one would have judged you! You could have just taken the AllSpark and escaped, but you stayed to protect us...why?" I asked, lifting my head from its resting place and staring into Ratchet's ice blue eyes.

"We would have judged ourselves. And what kind of Autobots would we have been, had we let you die so defenselessly? Your race is young. Yet it has experienced so much cruelty. I am not sure why Optimus wished to stay. Maybe he wants to prevent you from losing your planet too." He said, carefully taking in my reaction. Sometimes it looked like Ratchet was analyzing everything he saw, trying to learn more about our species.

After a few more minutes, I got suspicious. And I was happy to change the depressing subject. "Hey, Ratchet. Last time, the drive to the base didn't take that long... We're not driving to the base, are we?"

"No. At least not the base you know. General Morshower provided us – after long lasting discussions with Galloway – with a private base. It is a bit further away from our official base, but that way it is harder to find. Only few humans are aware of its location. And by 'few', I don't include Galloway nor General Morshower."

"How many know?" I asked, wanting to keep the conversation alive. I didn't like silence, especially not inside of an ambulance.

"As far as I am concerned, William Lennox, Robert Epps and Luke Roberts know. Also William Lennox wife – do not ask me why Ironhide had to bring _her _here – and Sam and Carly. And obviously you know too." He explained and I started chewing on my cheek. Why did they bring me here?

__I get to live with Orion!__This stupid little voice in my head cheered and I quickly shook the thought off. Although, it was quite...intriguing. Nevertheless, it was absurd and more than just unlikely.

"Then...why do you bring me here?" I spat out, mercilessly staring at him while waiting for a logical explanation, but the only anwer I got was a shrug.

"What does _that_..." I shrugged "...mean?"

"It _means _that I am not aware of the reason why Orion had me bring you to our headquarters." He replied just as annoyed as the question had left my mouth. I was just about to reply when Ratchet's holographic form tensed and remained in a silent state for horrific four and a half minutes.

The second he relaxed, his holographic form disappeared. I could feel the ambulance taking a turn to the right and then he stopped, shutting his engine off.

"Try walking." He grunted and I had to confess that I had expected him to online his holographic form once more to help me, but I guess that would have been a little too much kindness to ask for.

Carefully, I swung my legs over the rim of the berth and stood on my healthy one. Then I tried leading some pressure on the recently healed leg. It felt a little odd and looked funny, but at least it didn't hurt. So slowly, I made my way to the doors of the ambulance and climbed down.

Once I was steady on my feet, I let go of the door and left Ratchet enough space to transform. It was incredible how his transformation didn't in the least match Orion's, but it still looked familiar.

I shook my head and declined with a 'No, thank you' when he offered his hand to guide me through the warehouse. Being up with Orion was bad enough. Ratchet may not be as tall, but the silence would be far more awkward and I had to confess, I felt like a pet when being held in their hands…

Thus, I simply followed Ratchet, slow and steady and except from a few sighs and impatient gestures, he was polite enough to not say anything about my speed. But even if I could have walked faster, I doubted that I would have. There was too much to see!

The walls were tall enough for Optimus to stand upright and to still leave space between him and the ceiling. They were made out of pretty massive sheets of metal and some of them were covered with shelves of the same material. Robot sized shelves. It was a funny thought that our furniture must look like things for a doll to them, if their offspring knew dolls... I smiled and told myself I would import them once their war was over. Should I still experience that or should it ever be over.

Ratchet turned into another room at the end of a corridor and I cautiously stepped in, having to grin once more. I'm not sure what was so cute about giant shelves and giant chairs and all that. Maybe the fact that it was so very bizarre that robots used the same kind of furniture to relax, 'sleep', or to leave stuff on. The only thing that humans – well, in my knowledge - did not use, were giant screens from a material that looked like glass, but I couldn't be sure of it. Half of Ratchet's walls were covered with them. Some shut down, others having unknown symbols rushing down the screen. The glyphs were carefully being examined by Ratchet and I watched him frown as he leaned in closer to the screen like the gifted scientist he was.

"What is it?" I asked out of sheer curiosity, but apparently Ratchet wasn't in the mood for 'sheer curiosity'. He sighed and slowly turned around, rolling with his eyes. Then he murmured something in a language I didn't understand, but had heard from Orion a few times before.

"I don't get an answer, do I?" I uttered, raising an eyebrow at him. To my dismay, the Transformer chose to ignore me instead and turned to his work again. With a grunt, I let myself fall onto the ground, crossed my legs and stared at him, which surprisingly was not in the least boring. I observed closely how the small parts of his back moved, how he made such... human movements like shifting his weight from one foot to another or tapping his fingers on the desk under the screen.

"I see that your leg is healed." His voice came from behind me and I froze for a few seconds. How come I hadn't heard him coming in? The whole ground should have vibrated under the weight of his body.

"Yes..." was everything my tongue would allow me to say. I still didn't move a muscle and thanked my body for this capability, but, at the same time, I cursed it and myself for being such a coward. I could practically see him struggle with himself whether to speak up or leave me where I was as it was so obvious that I didn't want to see him.

"Can we... talk?" He then finally asked. How was I supposed to deny that? I couldn't just say no, could I? So I stood up, turned around and gave him a smile. Why did I not regret that my heart skipped a beat when he sent me his back?

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><p><span><em>Optimus Prime's POV, later<em>

It was late. The sun had been going down about six hours ago and most of the base was quiet. Something had been different about her when we had talked. I had asked her to stay because of her safety more than for myself. Only in the aftermaths had I seen how wrong it had been that she had replied with a smile that she had approved as if the born fighter had vanished from her soul. She had always been standing on her own feet. Had never wanted help from anyone, always found a way to solve problems on her own. She accepted my offer without the slightest of doubt seemed... wrong.

I moved as careful and silent as I could to not wake her up while I made my way over to Ratchet's medical bay. It was not hard to see that he felt much more comfortable with having a med-bay without hundreds of soldiers and human medics running around. His hands moved steadily over the screens while he tried to locate the vital computer of one of our space crafts.

Teletraan-1 had been loaded aboard one of our Autobot ships called __the Ark__. A few weeks ago, Ratchet had received a scrambled message from its onboard computer, signaling an S.O.S. I must admit that I had been shocked to hear of its survival. With it, our chances to win the war would raise drastically.

We had informed only General Morshower of that and had asked for a private base to be able to locate the beacon without human supervision. None of us wanted to risk Laserbeak receiving vital data of the Ark's location. As long as Teletraan-1 was able to shield the message from reaching the Decepticons, I would do everything in my power to leave Megatron and his cause oblivious.

"Any progress?" I asked the only surviving soul in this universe I had known longer than Megatron and his wage of war. Losing Jazz had burned a deep mark into my spark. What would I do if I lost Ratchet too, the last 'Bot in the universe I was able to ask for advice?

"Slow, but steady, Optimus. I do not wish to wake too much hope in you, but it appears that we are at the advantage... finally." Ratchet replied and even though he tried to hide it, the hope welled up inside him, laid thick in his voice.

"I am glad to hear that, old friend."

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><p><span><em>Ratchet's POV, a few days later<em>

I had worked until I was certain that we had an advantage over the Decepticons and I could let myself get some recharge. I knew where my borders were and after 26 megacycles of work, my processor became slower. Of course, I was used to longer shifts, back in my days as a field medic. And back then, the work had been much harder, but I could not allow myself any mistakes.

So I went over to my assigned area to get rest when I heard her. The rest of the base had been recharging for some time already, including Optimus, so no one could have heard her sobbing.

I stopped in front of her door, listening. For a long time, there was nothing more than the sobbing to be heard and sometimes she mumbled something I couldn't understand. When I thought I had waited long enough, I entered her room.

The berth she slept on was only a provisional bed. A simple bunch of blankets rolled up around her sitting frame. She was wearing a wide t-shirt and had her hair falling over her shoulders. It used to look like it was a stream of flowing gold, but something made it look dim and dry. I noticed that she was also skinnier than she used to be.

Within the last couple of days, I had already noticed how quiet she had become. That she had always tried to be as close to Optimus as possible and I hadn't come around, seeing the helplessness when he had to leave to go to our official base. Then she sometimes followed Bumblebee everywhere he went, or Sideswipe or the three femmes. As if she didn't want to be alone... Now, I couldn't come around noticing the shadows under her eyes.

"Rose?" I asked carefully. Of course, I knew it wasn't her real name. I wasn't that stupid, but since we had no other name to go by, we called her that.

She looked up, winced and drove the back of her hand over her eyes to conceal the fact that she had been crying. "Oh, Ratchet. You are still up? I did not notice..." Her voice broke with a sob when she said my name and gave me a weak smile while her tears were still flowing.

"Would you like to talk about it?" I asked. I wouldn't push her as long as her behavior did not seriously affect her health...

She shook her head and let her gaze fall to the ground. I nodded, transformed and placed myself in the corner next to the door. She didn't ask what I was doing. I guess she was just happy for the company when I chose to recharge in her room.

I waited for her to lie down and shut off the lights.

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><p>I had thought and hoped it had been for a single night, but it repeated. Night after night. Week after week until she grew skinny, tired and sick. Her body was pale and her hair looked close to gray.<p>

I had tried to talk to her more than just once. Had tried to find the source of her illness and had failed until Bumblebee one day went away with her. He took her to the East Coast for a last good-bye trip before he would leave with Carly and Sam.

When they returned late in the night, her eyes were glowing again and the laugh that left her was real. What kind of medic was I that I hadn't seen what she needed? Optimus had told me that she had been traveling around her whole life. Wasn't it more than just possible that she could become depressive and ill when she stayed too long at one place? And she had stayed here more than simply a few weeks...

The minute Rose disappeared in her room, I went straight to Optimus, informing him about my newly gained information. He obviously needed some time to process it.

"Yes. I believe you are right..." He said, all emotion wiped off his body. He has seen and done by far too many things, which require coldness and the lack of emotions. I sometimes regretted having congratulated him the day he became Prime. It was nothing one should congratulate for. Jazz and I have had to find that out the hard way.

"What do you suggest? ...I cannot let it go on like this...can I?"

Those were the times when I could rip off the high councilors' heads for their decision, yet I knew there would never be anyone more worthy and skilled than Orion to lead us.

"Let her go." I simply replied. And although I knew he personally would have preferred every other possibility, he would do what was best for her.

With a grave nod, he mentioned me to leave the room and as he crossed his arms behind his back in a way which looked so much like his brother's, I suddenly got the feeling that this could not find a happy ending...

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><p><em>Reply to guest review: I am happy to see that you have taken yourself some time to think about this story and I must admit that I love your review. The plot of the story is supposed to be a bit confusing but should you stick to the story, I'm quite sure your confusion will... vanish :D I'm not going to tell you more though ;)<em>

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><p><em><strong>Tell me what you think and what I can do better ;)<strong>_

_** And as always: Please R&R. Should you not want to review you can also PM me any time :D**_


	14. Perfect world

**Hiya to everyone out there who reads this.**

**I have bad news guys. Yep, kinda really bad. I'll be gone for quite a long time (six months to be precise) and I have decided to not update during that time. This may not be my main story, but I will finish it. And during this half year I will keep writing so that you will recieve about one update per week. **

**I am still reachable, so if you have any questions just PM me. I'm not gone from fanfiction .net! And when I'm back, I'll bring plenty of little oneshots with me.**

**With these words, I say Good bye and hope you enjoy the last chapter for this year. Leave me a Review if you find time.**

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><p><strong>Perfect world<strong>

This feels good.

I closed my eyes and stayed still for a moment, letting the wind dance around me and play with my hair. It blew a smile onto my face and grew louder, cutting me off from the rest of the world. I pulled my shirt down again; the thin cloth got carried away by the wind like a feather.

"Thank you..." I whispered in the hope Orion could hear me, that the wind would carry my confession toward him. He was somewhere on the west coast of the country while I stood somewhere above the Grand Canyon, watching the sun go down. After some searching, I had found a beautiful, little place without any tourists. The fact that I've had to walk quite a while didn't bother me. It was a beautiful path and the view was ravishing.

Tomorrow, I would hike down the canyon. I had been bothered by simply looking at it and not being able to see the water up close...

With a swift move, I grabbed my bag and swung it over my shoulder. The last beams of sun disappeared behind the rocks and the beautiful colors adorning the canyon slowly disappeared. I sighed, wondering if Orion had observed this spectacle from our place in the desert. Without his decision, I would still be a prisoner of my lies. Granted, I still was, but at least the leash wasn't as tight as it had been in the Autobots' presence.

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><p><em><em>Flashback<em>_

I pulled my sleeves over my fists, trying to warm them up. It was cold outside and I was feeling defenseless, standing in front of them like this. Although most of them had just started to get to know me, they already seemed sad about the fact that I was leaving, though not as sad as Bee was. Orion had told him to keep his emotions in check, since it was my decision and he didn't want me to feel bad about leaving them.

I hadn't promised them I would come back. Who knew, maybe in a few weeks I'd have forgotten all this and found something – someone- better. Yeah, who knew?

Once more, I forced my head upwards, looking them in the eyes. Ironhide looked the least bit touched, even less than Ratchet. I had to admit that Ratchet had stayed with me the whole time I had stayed in the base. He had been there for me, even if it must have been irritating at times.

Bee knelt down, lifting me up and pressing me against his chest. For a few seconds I could hear the steady beating of his spark, slow and oddly reassuring. I leaned my ear at his chest plates, holding onto them and listened closer.

"I'll miss you too." I whispered. Who could not miss this lively and adorable 'bot? Even though I hadn't known them for long enough to consider them good friends.

Slowly, he let me back onto the ground, making sure I looked him in the eyes. It looked like he was about to cry and I wondered how he could have gotten so close to me in such short time.

After a few nods and goodbyes, the Autobots left. All, but one.

"I don't mean to hurt you like this..." I chose my words carefully. I didn't need any other lies. He looks so... sympathetic. I didn't earn this.

"I know." He replied, but didn't even try to lighten his face with a smile for me. He stepped closer and I had to tilt my head back to look him in the eyes. I didn't like this either. I felt so small, so petty.

Orion knelt down, using the tip of his finger to wipe a streak of my hair off my forehead. It felt odd, leaving him once again. Odd, but it felt right. I had never known anything else than to leave. I never really felt like I arrived, even if I knew I would stay for a longer time. But I did feel it when I left.

I lifted my arm and took his hand, tilting my head to the side and smiling up at him while he mirrored me, tiliting his head to the side too. But his smile turned into a grin and his eyes went narrow.

I knew that he knew I would come back if only to see him smile like this once more...

* * *

><p><em>Optimus Prime's POV<em>

The sun was gone and I was tempted to stay, wait for all of the stars to reveal themselves to my optics. Somewhere about there, a few light years behind the bright star over her dead tree, there was Cybertron. Who knew if one could see it from here.

Somewhere on this blue marble, this small planet full of life so far away from the other galaxies, she was watching the same spectacle, the many colors lying themselves over the landscape, changing every nanoklik. I liked the uniqueness of these moments. Every day had a different play of colors and no sentient being would ever again be able to witness such beauty like I did right now. A sad thought actually, but it made these moment worth remembering,

With a quiet sigh, I turned my engine on and started my way back to the base. I told myself that it was good that she wasn't calling me. I had Ratchet tinker around with her cellphone, so that she was able to access our system. She had promised me to call should anything happen, though I couldn't bring myself to believe her. It was more like I tried to convince myself that I had hope in it.

Slowly, I rolled into our private base, noticing that it was awfully quiet. Only now did I notice how much I had become used to Bumblebee. He had always been around, had lifted the mood of his comrades. I was happy for him. Carly and Sam had taken him with them to travel around and William Lennox had been kind enough to cover him.

Ironhide was at the Lennox farm, probably playing guardian for Annabelle while letting Lennox's wife take care of her. I hoped for Ironhide that we stayed longer than planned. I have never seen him as happy as he was when Annabelle was around. Who knew a tough bot like him wished for sparklings?

"No word from them yet?" I asked my medical officer. He was sitting on one of the boxes, welding around on one of Ironhide's weapons.

"From Bumblebee. They just came back to their hotel from a road trip in southern Italy..." He said, sounding quite pleased. I was aware of Ratchet's protective feelings towards our young scout. He had been more than happy to hear that he would go off duty for some time to explore this planet with his charges. I nodded at his answer and went over to the large screen.

"No word from her means that she is fine... " He mumbled, giving me a compassionate look.

"I am aware of that."

I needed to get myself focused on something else so I went to my quarters. Without speaking another word to my old friend, I sat myself in front of the large screen. I still had to talk to Galloway about the damage our last mission had caused. But to be honest, I simply did not want to look my teammates in the optics. They trusted me, laid their fate in my hands. How often had I seen them obey a command without the slightest bit of mistrust. I sometimes had my moments when I didn't trust my comrades with certain missions, but they've really proved me wrong.

But at the end of the day, I hadn't gotten a single step forward. Neither with the business Galloway and I had to carry out, nor with my personal problems. At some point, I decided to simple call it a night and laid back on my berth, offlining my optics.

The next couple of months were filled with an all too present routine of the same events and duties. We hadn't had any Decepticon activity since a pretty long time and I grew suspicious and tense so it was no surprise that I immediately noticed the heat radiating from my quarters once I had returned from patrol. The base should be half empty and neither Ironhide nor Ratchet could be in my quarters since I had seen both either training or, in Ratchet's case, fixing up Sideswipe from one of his street races. I would have to give him a lecture about that later...

There! Noises came out of my quarters. A slight clink from metal on metal. I activated my plasma cannons and let my battle mask cover the unprotected parts of my face. Within a nanosec, the door opened and I rushed in, aiming my cannons directly at the intruder, ready to fire.

Said intruder didn't even flinch. She kept braiding her long, golden hair over her right shoulder, swinging her legs forward and backwards as she did so. The small buckles on her shoes hit against my berth on which she had made herself comfortable, making the slight clinking noise.

When I still didn't lower my weapons after a few seconds, she put her hands onto the metal of my berth, leaning onto them and letting her head fall to the side.

"'Sup?", she asked and a smile cracked her lips open. She looked so different and yet so familiar. Her hair had grown longer and her skin a few shades darker. She did look healthy again, like on the first day when I had met her...

"Care to take your guns down?" She asked, mentioning to my still activated weapons. Quickly, I put them back into my subspace, straightening up. The battle mask however, remained protectively wrapped around my mouth so that she could not see the smile on my face.

"You're back." I noted, knowing nothing better to say while she smiled up at me.

"Yep."

"How was it?" I didn't even realize what I was asking. Just polite questions, whose answers I wouldn't pay any attention to, while I came closer, hearing the door shut behind me and knelt down before her. Our optics positioned at approximately the same height. The silence between us I had feared so much was long gone and I placed my arms on the berth, surrounding her with them.

"Good, really. I missed you, though." She answered candidly, holding my gaze in hers. So we were at the point where we didn't disavow our feelings anymore?

"I missed you too." I admitted and leaned closer to kiss her.

It felt good having her near me again. Incredibly good. She laid on my chest, staring at the ceiling while we were talking: about her 'little trip', about my duties at NEST, and other things. The later it got, the closer we got to the more critical subjects like what we would do now. And to be honest, I was clueless. We both knew the risks, so we would have to keep it a secret. But keeping it a secret meant, we would not be able to meet as often.

"I could still 'accidentally' meet you on your missions?" She offered and a weak smile crawled across my faceplates. She turned around and leaned onto her elbow as she watched me carefully. Now, being able to see me smiling since my battlemask was down, she ladled reliability from the unassailable bond between us. Though I was aware that Cybertronians and organics could neither merge nor create a bond, it felt as if there was one, a connection between us. The only thing missing was the ability to hear her soul, her steady heart beat through a spark-bond. But as long as I could see her soul through her eyes and hear her steadily beating heart through my sensors, I was blessed.

"And I could still accidentally encounter you on one of your trips." I replied, lifting my head to blow a soft breeze through her hair.

She sighed, turning around again so that she laid on her back. Her eyes were closed and her hand reached behind her, caressing my chin. I lifted my servo and laid the palm of my hand over her body, protected her.

At some point in the night, I fell into recharge. I'm not sure whether she had already been sleeping then or whether she had still been awake. But when I woke up in the early morning, she was still sound asleep. I had to address Galloway as soon as possible and found it to be best done before she awoke. Thus, I gently lifted her small form up from my chest and laid her onto my berth before I silently left the room, the door shutting behind me.

Sideswipe grinned at me and offlined his right optic for the fraction of a second, as if to wink at me. I received a similar gesture from Ironhide and later also from Ratchet. They had known about her presence without question.

Reporting to Galloway took even longer than I had estimated. The longer it took, the more tiresome and irritating his questions went and when we were already discussing since over two Earth hours; it felt like his questions were repeating for the fifth time by now. I thanked Primus when Galloway seemed to have as little desire to continue this as I had and officially ended this week's report.

I entered my quarters only to be left there with confusion. It was still very early and yet my quarters were empty. Had she gotten up already? For a moment, I feared that she could have went away again. My engine revved at that thought and I hurried out.

When I could not make out her heat signature inside the base, I decided to look outside. She could not have come far. I was concerned she might have changed her mind, but all my concern seemed ridiculous when I spotted her sitting on the ground. Her back was leaned against Ironhide's hood and her mouth was moving. I was curious to what they were talking about, but the Prime inside of me desensitized my audio sensors and with a smile, I leaned against the outer wall of our base. Watching them talk as the sun rose in front of them. Who would have thought this? Ironhide could be left alone with humans after all.

**::Prime?::** the old wrecker grunted.

**::Don't feel disturbed by me, please.::** I replied, the smile still on my faceplates.

**::You don't trust me along with her? :: **he huffed didn't bother hiding his disappointment.

**::No. I'm just happy you two come along. ::** I replied, but still refused to leave. As a reply, I merely received a growl from the war hardened mech.

I knew she wouldn't stay for long. But at least she had promised to return in a few weeks. I asked Ratchet to reprogram her cellular phone, letting her wander with the ability to contact us. And with delight, I found myself occupied by listening to her voice at least once a day. She sometimes sent images from the places she had seen, mostly from the sunsets.

And the next time I had met her had been on another mission in Canada. We had found a Decepticon scout, not as experienced as Bumblebee, near the airport of Vancouver. And only a few hours later, I still do not know how because she still refuses to tell me, my little human femme had appeared right in front of us.

Ironhide had made sure she carried a weapon around with her ever since then. My weapon specialist had grown fond of her. The weapon she carried around was a prototype of his, simply built much smaller to fit inside her bag without taking in too much space.

We took her back with us to our private base where she stayed for a couple of days. When Lennox showed up without a word of warning, she vanished. 'Swallowed up by the ground' as humans would say. Even Sideswipe was impressed by her silent retreat. Not even Ratchet's careful sensors had detected her leaving. That would have caused me to worry if she hadn't left a message on my .

Once more, the days at the base grew back into routine. Bumblebee returned only a week after she had left, his presence lifting the mood at both our bases visibly. He would still randomly disappear without any approval and reappear the next day, but because we were used to it, his punishments were usually very small, if they even existed.

But one day, Bumblebee didn't return.

**::Prime, did you try reaching him over the comm?:: **Ironhide asked urgently while walking around the base nervously.

Usually that was the first thing we did when Bumblebee was gone: send him a . At times, when he had once again shut off his communication system to avoid a possible lecture, we used to call Sam. But today, neither Sam nor Bumblebee were reachable.

**:: Yes, Ironhide. There was no response. Neither from Sam nor from Bumblebee.:: **I replied, walking over to Ratchet who was standing in front of the monitor.

"Bumblebee is..." I started, but got interrupted by him. I quietly noticed that he did that very often, interrupting me. Ultra Magnus would never have dared... I preferred it the way Ratchet did it. He showed his trust towards me through those actions.

"...on his way inside.", my CMO uttered a little bored, but I knew that behind his well-constructed facade was great relief, as there was always when one of us returned safe and uninjured.

And indeed, the yellow Camaro could be heard before we could see him. He honked loudly and his brakes screeched as he drifted around the corner. Ratchet turned around, pure fury in his eyes.

"How many times did I tell you that that driving style of yours wears down your tires faster than usual?! I have more important matters to attend to than changing your ruined tires!" He barked and caused the scout to shrink back from the medic's fury.

Ironhide crossed Ratchet's path, keeping a careful optic on him as he passed the mech and patted Bumblebee's shoulder. "As long as that's th'only thing ya gotta fix on 'im, doc."

My scout chirped in consent and took a step forward. His radio buzzed to life.

"Ahem. AHE-HEM!" His radio made coughing noises, the habit of humans wanting to announce something, followed by the noise of something being softly hit against glass a couple of times.

"...Ladies and Gentlemen..." Bumblebee had gained our full attention.

" ...I am going to be..." "...an uncle."

This message sunk in. One nanoclik. Another. Then, a clapping noise from Lennox. Epps joined in and some soldiers patted Bumblebees foot. Ironhide gave him a "high five" and bumped his chestplates against Bumblebee's, another habit they must have copied from their humans. Ratchet muttered something like 'about time' and I stepped over, laid a hand on his shoulder and congratulated him along with wishing him luck. I would be visiting Sam and Carly after Galloway's visit in the evening.

It appeared our big family of humans and Autobots is about to grow...


End file.
